Feeding red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea) to beef heifers fed a high-grain diet affected feed intake and total tract digestibility

Abstract

Abstract Red osier dogwood (ROD; Cornus sericea) is an abundant native shrub plant across North America and it is rich in bioactive compounds with total phenolic concentration up to 220\u2009g/kg dry matter (DM) depending on the season. The phenolics include anthocyanins, gallic acid, ellagic acid, quercetin, and cyanin, which have both antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of increasing substitution of ROD for barley silage in a high-grain diet on DM intake, ruminal pH and fermentation, digestibility in the total digestive tract, blood metabolites and acute phase response in beef heifers. Five ruminally cannulated Angus heifers (averaged body weight of 660\u2009±\u200940.8\u2009kg; initial age of 18 months) were used in a 5\u2009×\u20095 Latin square design with 21-d periods including 14 d for adaptation to new diets and 7 d for data collection. Treatments were a control diet containing 150\u2009g/kg barley silage and 850\u2009g/kg barley concentrate mix (DM basis), the control diet substituted with 30, 70 or 100\u2009g/kg of ROD for equal proportions of barley silage, respectively, and the control diet supplemented with antibiotics (330\u2009mg monensin\u2009+\u2009110\u2009mg tylosin/heifer/d). Apparent digestibility was determined using Cr2O3 as external marker by sampling feces from the rectum. Intake of DM quadratically (P