The Net Energy of Blackstrap Molasses for Fattening Steers as Determined by a Comparative Slaughter Technique

The net energy of blackstrap molasses for fattening has been determined by use of the comparative slaughter technique. The feeding of molasses at 10% in the ration significantly increased fat deposition while not significantly increasing total gain over the basal ration. Molasses at 25 and 40% levels resulted in lower rates of gain and lower fat deposition than the basal but the composition of the gain was not different from that produced by the basal ration. The NE of the basal ration and of molasses fed at 10, 25 and 40% in the ration was 40.8, 68.9, 37.8 and 35.1 meal, per 100 lb., respectively. The corresponding TDN levels were 63.5, 62.5, 62.0 and 59.3% and those for DE were 130, 130, 126 and 118 meal, per 100 lb. The small increase in fecal energy loss was not sufficient to account for the large loss in NE when molasses was increased from 10 to 25 and 40% levels.