本研究では,黒毛和種牛による飼養試験ならびに交雑種牛によるフィールド試験により焼酎粕ペレット飼料(SDB-PF)の給与が肉用牛の成長,健康,行動および肉質に及ぼす影響を検討し,以下の結果を得た.1)飼養試験およびフィールド試験における増体量ならびに飼料効率は,SDB-PFを添加した試験区が対照区よりも10%前後高くなり,SDB-PFは肉用牛の成長ならびに飼料効率を高める機能性をもつと考えられた.2)飼養試験およびフィールド試験において,SDB-PF給与が牛の健康を害することはなかった.関連して,フィールド試験では,対照区は肺炎,胸膜炎および胃炎に5頭罹患したが,試験区はゼロであった.3)飼養試験における行動調査の結果,対照区は試験区よりも身繕い行動とストレス関連行動が多く,SDB-PF給与は牛のストレス症状を起こしにくくしていると考えられた.4)SDB-PFは,両試験で枝肉重量を高める傾向があった.5)黒毛和種でも交雑種でも,ロースの脂質含量ならびにロース部位および筋間脂肪のビタミンE含量は,試験区が対照区よりも高い傾向を示した.官能検査では,黒毛和種牛の場合,試験区が対照区よりも総合的に好ましいと感ずる傾向が見られた.
Feeding and field experiments using Japanese black and crossbred cattle, respectively, were conducted to examine the effect of a pellet feed with shochu distiller's by-products (SDB-PF) on the growth, health, behavior and meat quality of the cattle and the following results were obtained : 1) Average daily gain and feed efficiency of the test group with SDB-PF were about 10 % higher than those of the control group in both feeding and field experiments. Thus the SDB-PF appeared to have a growth-stimulating function on beef cattle. 2) The supply of SDB-PF did not damage the health of the cattle both in the feeding and field experiments. Incidentally, in the field experiment, five cattle suffered from pneumonia, pleurisy and gastritis in the control group, whereas no cattle suffered from these diseases in the test group. 3) Examination on the effect of SDB-PF on behavior of cattle in the feeding experiment resulted in finding a view that SDB-PF worked for avoiding stress on the basis of an observation of higher self-grooming and stress-related behaviors in the control group when compared with those in the test group. 4) SDB-PF appeared to increase the weight of dressed carcass both in the Japanese black and the cross-bred cattle. 5) Feeding SDB-PF tended to enhance lipid content in rib eye and a-tocopherol content in both rib eye and intermuscular fat both in the Japanese black and the crossbred cattle. Organoleptic evaluation of the meat tended to show that major persons felt favorite for the meat of the test group fed with SDB-PF in the feeding experiment with Japanese black cattle.