Meat quality responses to feeding distiller’s grains to finishing Holstein steers 1,2 D. L. Roeber, R. K. Gill, and A. DiCostanzo 3 Department of Animal Sciences, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108-6111 ABSTRACT: Strip loins from two experiments were used to evaluate effects of feeding dry (DDG) or wet (WDG) distiller’s grains on beef color, tenderness, and sensory traits of Holstein steers. In Exp. 1, conducted at the University of Illinois at Champaign–Urbana, di- etary treatments consisted of a control whole corn–corn silage diet with soybean meal (SBM) or diets formulated with 12.5% DDG plus urea, 25% DDG, 25% WDG, 50% DDG, or 50% WDG (DM basis). In Exp. 2, conducted at Iowa State University, dietary treatments consisted of cracked corn–corn silage–hay diets with either SBM or urea (Urea) as the control diets, or diets formulated with 10, 20, or 40% DDG or WDG (DM basis). Within each study, strip loins from each of four steers (repre- senting 45.7 and 66.6% of steers in Exp. 1 and 2, respec- tively) in four replicate pens per treatment were aged for 13 d at 4°C for subsequent color, tenderness, and palatability evaluation. Color of steaks was measured objectively using a HunterLab Miniscan XE spectropho- tometer and was subjectively evaluated by a trained panel. Tenderness was measured using the Warner- Key Words: Beef, Carcass, Distiller’s Grains, Holstein, Sensory Traits 2005 American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved. J. Anim. Sci. 2005. 83:2455–2460 Introduction The prevalence of distiller’s grains (DG) from dry mill- ing of corn is increasing in the upper Midwest due to growing interest in processing corn for ethanol produc- tion. Increased production of DG is leading cattle feeders and others in the beef industry to consider DG as a feed source. Ojowi et al. (1997) observed that steers fed a diet consisting of wheat-based DG had more (P < 0.05) intermuscular fat and less (P < 0.05) s.c. fat than those 1 Funding for this project was provided by the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, Johnston, IA. 2 Strip loins for this project were obtained from the Univ. of Illinois, Champaign–Urbana and Iowa State Univ., Ames. 3 Correspondence—phone: 612-624-1272; fax: 612-624-4906; e-mail: dicos001@umn.edu. Received October 21, 2004. Accepted June 13, 2005. 2455 Bratzler shear force (WBSF) instrument on steaks cooked to 70°C. For sensory evaluation, 95 consumers were recruited to evaluate tenderness, juiciness, and flavor of cooked steaks. In Exp. 1, steaks from steers fed 25% WDG had higher (P < 0.05) a* values after 138 h of simulated retail display than all other treatments, except for those from steers fed 12.5% DDG. In Exp. 2, a greater (P < 0.05) percentage of steaks from steers fed 40% DDG or 40% WDG were considered moderately undesirable during retail display (steaks that received a consumer acceptability score of 3 or less). There were no (P = 0.20 in Exp. 1, and P = 0.33 in Exp. 2) differences among treatments in Exp. 1 and Exp. 2 for WBSF (1.47 ± 0.66 kg and 1.58 ± 0.72 kg, respectively) or taste panel tenderness (5.7 ± 0.30 and 6.2 ± 0.22, respectively), beef flavor (6.0 ± 0.23 and 6.2 ± 0.22, respectively), and juiciness (5.6 ± 0.31 and 5.8 ± 0.23). Feeding distiller’s grains at up to 50% of the dietary DM did not affect tenderness or sensory traits, and seems to be a viable feed alternative without negatively impacting sen- sory attributes. fed wet brewer’s grains or barley. Reports from Canada indicated that steaks from steers fed wheat-based DG were similar in sensory traits and shear force values to those from steers fed brewer’s grains or barley (Shand et al., 1998). Distiller’s grains have significant concentrations of vi- tamins, including B complex, A, D, and E; however, it is not known whether these characteristics of DG con- tribute to enhancing the value of beef. Dahlen et al. (2001) reported that steaks from steers fed a combination of condensed distiller’s solubles (a component of DG with solubles) and barley by-product were redder than steaks from steers fed corn gluten feed. These studies have evaluated beef cattle fed DG, but limited information exists on the effects of DG on beef tenderness and sen- sory traits. Because consumer preference for wholesome, high- quality beef is the focal point of the beef industry, it is imperative that we gain knowledge on the effect of feed-