# Effects of feeding α-amylase-expressed corn silage and grain on performance, enteric methane production, and carcass characteristics in beef steers

## TL;DR

This study tested how feeding corn silage and grain with high α-amylase affects beef cattle performance and methane emissions, finding no overall improvement in growth but some methane reduction.

## Contribution

The study evaluates the impact of α-amylase-expressed corn on beef cattle performance and methane emissions in a controlled feedlot setting.

## Key findings

- Feeding EFC silage reduced methane production per unit of dry matter intake during the backgrounding phase.
- EFC silage and grain did not improve body weight, daily gain, or feed efficiency in beef steers.
- Whole-shelled EFC grain decreased performance metrics during the finishing phase.

## Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of feeding Enogen feed corn (EFC) silage or EFC grain with different grain processing (dry-rolled corn vs. whole-shelled corn) in feedlot cattle diets. Total 68 Angus cross-bred steers were blocked by body weight and the treatments (diets) were randomly assigned to steers in each block: a basal diet with isoline corn silage and isoline dry-rolled corn grain (IIR); the basal diet with EFC silage and isoline dry-rolled corn grain (EIR); the basal diet with EFC silage and EFC dry-rolled grain (EER); and the basal diet with EFC silage and EFC whole-shelled grain (EEW). Isoline refers to the isogenic counterpart of Enogen corn silage or grain. Steers received the assigned treatment over 32 wk of the entire experiment (backgrounding and finishing) until harvested. Part of the steers (eight blocks) in each treatment were used to measure CH4 production (g/d) using the GreenFeed and CH4 production per unit of DMI. All data were analyzed using a mixed procedure of SAS in a randomized complete block design, considering diet as a fixed effect and block as a random effect. Steers fed the EIR diet increased (P = 0.03) DMI compared to IIR during the backgrounding phase. However, feeding EFC silage or grain did not affect body weight, average daily gain, and feed efficiency during backgrounding and finishing phases. Feeding EEW decreased (P ≤ 0.05) body weight, average daily gain, feed efficiency, and tended to decrease (P = 0.06) hot carcass weight compared to EER during the finishing phase. Methane production per unit of DMI decreased (P = 0.02) for steers fed EIR compared with steers fed IIR only during the backgrounding phase. Feeding EFC grain had no effect on CH4 production (g/d) in both phases. In conclusion, feeding EFC silage or grain did not improve the performance of beef steers during the backgrounding and finishing phases in the current experiment condition. Methane production per unit of DMI was reduced for steers fed EFC silage compared with isoline corn silage only during the backgrounding phase.

Feeding corn silage and corn grain with a trait that expresses high α-amylase may have potential to increase dietary starch digestibility and may improve the growth and performance of beef cattle. In the current study, we investigated feeding corn silage and grain with high α-amylase on performance and enteric methane production of beef steers.