摘要：Highlights•Alternative protein sources for smallholder beef cattle were evaluated.•Glycine maxandM. sativasteers had greater DMI and ADG thanA. mearnsiisteers.•Steers fedA. mearnsiidiet had lighter carcasses than those fed other diets.•Meat physicochemical traits were similar across all dietary treatments.AbstractBeef production in the smallholder sector of South Africa is constrained by low feed quantity and quality, particularly protein during the dry season. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of replacingGlycine maxin a complete finisher beef cattle diet with eitherAcacia mearnsiileaf meal orMedicago sativahay on growth performance, carcass traits and meat quality of steers. Thirty-six, 12-months old non-descript crossbred steers (157.9 ± 31.37 kg body weight) were randomly allocated to three dietary treatments (12 animals/treatment), withA. mearnsiiandM. sativareplacingG. max(control diet) at 500 g/kg dry matter (DM) of diet. Steers fed theA. mearnsiidiet had lower (P ≤ 0.05) DM intake, average daily gain, feed efficiency and carcass weights than those fedG. maxandM. sativadiets with no difference found betweenG. maxandM. sativatreatments (P> 0.05). Diet had no influence on any of the measured meat physicochemical traits (P> 0.05). Overall, steers fed theM. sativaandG. maxdiets had similar growth performance and meat yield, but higher (P ≤ 0.05) than that of steers fed theA. mearnsiidiet. Current results suggest thatM. sativais a better alternative protein source toG. maxfor smallholder beef cattle compared toA. mearnsii.
