EFFECT OF THE DIETARY DRY GRAPE POMACE ON THE PERFORMANCE AND HEALTH STATE OF FATTENING STEERS

Potential source of nutrients and also a strong antioxidant, grape pomace is currently in the focus of the animal scientists. This 3 months trial used 14 Romanian Spotted fattening steers, with an average initial weight of 256 kg, assigned uniformly to two groups. The groups differed by the absence or presence of dry grape pomace in the compound feed, next to the bulk forage, alfalfa haylage. Feed intake of the two groups was similar both as concerns the bulk feed and as concerns the compound feed. The weight gain was also similar, 1306 g/steer/day in the control group (no dry grape pomace in the compound feed) and 1301 g/steer/day in the experimental group (20% dry grape pomace which replaced most of the barley used for the control group). The replacement of barley by dry grape pomace in the compound fed for fattening steers didn’t have a significant influence on feed conversion ratio and feeding efficiency; no health problems were noticed either, as shown by the plasma profile of the experimental animals.