K-State Ag Today: Research shows ways to improve marbling in beef

K-State Ag Today: Vitamin A Research

Vitamin A is a necessary nutrient for the overall health of beef cattle, but too much can result in lower-quality meat.

Michael Dikeman, a professor and researcher in the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry at Kansas State University, has been building on research first conducted in Japan.

"We basically found that vitamin A restriction during the finishing phase of young cattle, generally improved marbling. It also generally resulted in some reduction in the external or waste fat production," Dikeman said.

Dikeman says it's an approach that even farmers with a few head of cattle can duplicate.

"Corn grain and sorghum grain would be naturally low in vitamin A, and of course in finishing diets for young beef cattle, those would be the primary ingredients, one or the other," he said. "And the roughage source should be a source that is not high in vitamin A, so that the diet is relatively low in its vitamin A content. And then the producer, the feeder should not supplement any vitamin A, as long as the feeding period is not extremely long."

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