The effect of the amount of rye in mixed feeds for bulls on growing up

The main component of compound feed is cereal grains. Rye occupies a special place among cereal crops as components of compound feeds. Rye, unsuitable for food purposes, but quite suitable for feeding livestock, can be used for the production of compound feeds. The purpose of the research is to scientifically substantiate the norms of rye input into the composition of compound feeds concentrates in order to expand the possibility of its use in feeding bulls’ growing up and reducing the cost of compound feeds. To solve the tasks, we formed 4 groups of growing up bulls and developed 4 recipes of compound feeds concentrates with different rates of entering rye (0, 20, 30, 40%). The duration of the experiment was 135 days. We kept daily group feeding records. We weighed animals every 30 days. To determine the effect of rye on the consumption of the basic balanced diet, we kept records of the feed consumed and its residues for the next day. The composition of the diet was changed every month after weighing of the animals. During the whole scientific and economic experiment, we kept the records of the eaten feeds (compound fodder and hay); haylage was given to the experimental bulls depending on their eatability. Inclusion of rye from 20 to 40% in the composition of compound feeds does not reduce the balance of the animals’ diet. Gross live weight gain and gain per day in experimental bulls of the first three groups did not differ significantly. The animals of the 4th group fed compound feeds with 40% rye were inferior to the control animals in overall growth by 5.6 kg and in average daily gain by 43 g. The animal spent 5.87-6.03 energetic feed units per 1 kg of live weight gain. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the fact that for the first time scientifically grounded norms on inclusion of rye for young growing up bulls into the composition of compound feeds concentrates have been developed. We studied the influence of the developed compound feeds concentrates on bulls’ growth intensity.