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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Hormonal growth implants affect feed efficiency and expression of residual feed intake-associated genes in beef cattle

W. Al-Husseini A D , C. Gondro A , K. Quinn B , L. M. Cafe B , R. M. Herd B , J. P. Gibson A , P. L. Greenwood B and Y. Chen C E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A The Centre for Genetic Analysis and Applications, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.

B NSW Department of Primary Industries, Beef Industry Centre, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.

C NSW Department of Primary Industries, Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, Menangle, NSW 2568, Australia.

D Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Babylon, Iraq.

E Corresponding author. Email: yizhou.chen@dpi.nsw.gov.au

Animal Production Science 54(5) 550-556 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN12398
Submitted: 16 November 2012  Accepted: 21 February 2013   Published: 21 May 2013

Abstract

Hormonal growth promotants (HGP) have been used to improve feed conversion ratio (FCR) and growth rates of cattle by modifying protein turnover rates. Residual feed intake (RFI) is correlated with FCR and has been adopted in Australia as a measure of feed efficiency in cattle for the purpose of genetic improvement. Eight genes (AHSG, GHR, GSTM1, INHBA, PCDH19, S100A10, SERPINI2 and SOD3) have been previously reported to be highly associated with RFI and could potentially be used to predict RFI in bulls and steers. In this study, expression levels of these genes in liver tissue of 46 cattle were measured by quantitative real-time PCR. These cattle were part of a larger tenderness gene marker experiment consisting of two breeds (Angus and Brahman); two sexes (steers and heifers) and HGP treatments (implanted vs control). Cattle were measured for growth, feed efficiency, body composition and carcass traits. Results showed the expression of these eight genes was significantly correlated with RFI. However, HGP treatment did not affect RFI or the expression of the RFI-associated genes. HGP treatment increased average daily gain by 20%, improved FCR by 18%, and increased rib eye-muscle area by 7.5%. HGP treatment was effective in improving growth rate, presumably by its known action in the protein turnover mechanism. This mechanism has been hypothesised as one of the regulators of RFI. Lack of effect of HGP treatment on RFI does not support this hypothesis.


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