Effects of increasing supplemental dietary Zn concentration on growth performance and carcass characteristics in finishing steers fed ractopamine hydrochloride.

Angus-cross steers (n = 288; 427 ± 0.4 kg) were utilized in a finishing study to evaluate the influence of increasing dietary Zn concentration on growth performance and carcass characteristics of steers fed ractopamine hydrochloride (RAC). In a randomized complete block design, steers were blocked by weight (6 steers/pen) and fed a dry-rolled corn-based diet for 79 d containing no supplemental Zn (CON; n = 8), 60 mg Zn/kg from ZnSO4 and no supplemental Zn-amino acid complex (ZnAA; ZnAA0; n = 8) or ZnAA0 diet supplemented with 60 (ZnAA60; n = 8), 90 (ZnAA90; n = 7), 120 (ZnAA120; n = 8), or 150 (ZnAA150; n = 8) mg Zn/kg DM from ZnAA. Thirty-one days prior to harvest (day 48 of study) all steers began receiving RAC at 300 mg⋅steer-1⋅d-1. This study was organized as 2 groups (GRP) of steers and groups were stagger started so that GRP1 started and ended 2 wk before GRP2. Pen was the experimental unit, and the statistical model included the fixed effects of treatment and block nested within GRP. Three a priori single degree of freedom contrasts were developed: linear and quadratic effects of ZnAA supplementation (ZnAA0, ZnAA60, ZnAA90, ZnAA120, and ZnAA150), and CON vs. Zn (CON vs. ZnAA0, ZnAA60, ZnAA90, ZnAA120, and ZnAA150). Dietary Zn concentration did not affect growth performance prior to RAC supplementation (P ≥ 0.17). During the RAC-period ADG and DMI were not affected by dietary Zn (P ≥ 0.16), while there was a linear effect of dietary Zn supplementation to decrease G:F (P = 0.04). Marbling scores were greatest in CON steers (P = 0.03). Liver Cu (day 45 and 80) and meat Cu (harvest) concentrations were greater in CON steers relative to Zn-supplemented steers (P ≤ 0.05), and plasma Zn linearly increased as dietary Zn increased (P = 0.007). Warner-Bratzler shear force was not different among treatments (P ≥ 0.25), and meat total collagen was quadratically affected by dietary Zn supplementation (P ≤ 0.002) where ZnAA0 was greatest. Overall, there was no effect of dietary Zn concentration on growth performance of RAC-supplemented steers in this study.