Date of Award:

8-2022

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Sciences

Committee Chair(s)

Kara J. Thornton

Committee

Kara J. Thornton

Committee

Aaron J. Thomas

Committee

Fernanda Batistel

Committee

Sulaiman Matarneh

Committee

S. Clay Isom

Abstract

Two potential methods that can be used by the U.S. to help further improve environmental and economic sustainability of the beef industry are through the use anabolic implants, typically composed of the hormones estradiol and trenbolone acetate, and by crossbreeding Bos taurus and Bos indicus cattle. How anabolic implants operate to improve growth, and their resulting relationship with different cattle breed types have yet to be determined. However, crossbreeding these cattle breed types has been found to have a positive influence on economically important traits such as average daily gain and carcass characteristics. Therefore, we hypothesized that the different hormones utilized in anabolic implants will operate through different mechanisms from each other, while causing changes in a breed dependent manner due to the innate physiological difference between different cattle breed types. This research found that estradiol primarily improved growth by altering nutrient partitioning in skeletal muscle of feedlot steers, while trenbolone acetate increased mRNA abundance associated with skeletal muscle growth. Furthermore, this research found that anabolic implants elicit changes in feeding behavior, animal temperament, serum metabolites, feedlot performance, carcass characteristics, and mRNA associated with protein turnover in a breed dependent manner. Economic return always improved when feedlot steers were implanted, however the extent of this return varied based off breed and implant protocol used. Therefore, the findings from this research suggest that anabolic implant protocols need to be optimized to match cattle breed types to help further improve environmental and economic sustainability of beef production in the U.S.

Checksum

712a36bee0bd95a162575e9cb2148aaa

Download

Share

COinS

Copyright for this work is retained by the student. If you have any questions regarding the inclusion of this work in the Digital Commons, please email us at .