Tolerance of cattle to increased dietary sulfur and effect of dietary cation-anion balance

The objective of this study was to determine if dietary cation-anion balance (DCAB) affects the concentration of S that can be tolerated by growing and finishing cattle without adversely affecting performance. Angus cross and Bradford steers (n=114; average initial BW=252.8 kg) were blocked by BW and breed, and randomly assigned within a block to treatment. The design was a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments with S (from NH(4)SO(4)) supplemented at 0, 0.15, or 0.30% of DM, and NaHCO(3) added at 0 or 1.0% of DM. Each treatment consisted of 3 pens containing 5 steers and 1 pen containing 4 steers. Steers were used in an 84-d growing study followed by a finishing study. A corn silage-based diet was fed during the growing study and a corn-based diet was fed during the finishing study. Steers were not randomized between experiments. The analyzed concentrations of S in the growing diets were 0.12, 0.30, and 0.46%, whereas the analyzed concentrations of S in the finishing diets were 0.13, 0.31, and 0.46% for treatments supplemented with 0, 0.15, and 0.30% S, respectively. Increasing DCAB by approximately 15 mEq/100 g of DM, by the addition of NaHCO(3,) did not affect (P > 0.36) performance during the growing or finishing studies. During the growing study DMI was not affected (P=0.29) by dietary S. Steers fed diets containing 0.30% S had greater ADG (P=0.02) and G:F (P=0.01) than those receiving 0.46% S, but similar (P > 0.36) performance to steers fed 0.12% S. During the finishing study, steers fed diets containing 0.46% S had less ADG than steers fed 0.13 (P=0.004) or 0.31% S (P=0.07), whereas ADG did not differ (P=0.18) among steers fed 0.13 and 0.31% S. Steers fed diets containing 0.31 (P=0.01) or 0.46% S (P=0.001) had less DMI than controls, but G:F was not affected (P=0.52) by S during the finishing study. Carcass characteristics did not differ (P > 0.18) among steers fed diets containing 0.13 and 0.31% S. Steers receiving diets containing 0.46% S had decreased HCW (P=0.001), quality (P=0.02), and yield grades (P=0.04) than steers receiving 0.13% S. Plasma Cu concentrations on d 101 of the finishing phase and liver Cu concentrations at slaughter were greater (P ≤ 0.05) in control steers compared with those fed diets containing 0.31 or 0.46% S. This study indicates that steers fed growing diets can tolerate up to 0.46% S with minimum effects on performance. Finishing steers tolerated diets containing 0.31% S without adverse affects on ADG or G:F. However, 0.46% S greatly decreased ADG and DMI, and increasing DCAB did not prevent these depressions.