Investigation of the effects of drinking water entreated energized oxygen on fattening period and performance in commercial beef cattle

This study was conducted to determine the potantial impact of drinking water enriched with oxygen on fattening performance and dressing percentages of cattle in a commercial beef cattle enterprise. In the study, a total of 20 male cattle, consisting of 10 Simmental and Holstein, aged between 9-10 months were used. Animals were separated into two groups with five Simmental and five Holstein in each group. While the first group consumed drinking water available at present, the second group consumed drinking water enriched with oxygen. Initial age and liveweight were detected as 298 day and 407.20 kg, respectively for Holstein cattle. The same values were also determined 286.20 day and 399.10 kg, respectively for Simmental cattle. While the liveweight of Holstein and Simmental were 571.60 kg and 615 kg, respectively at the end of the semi-annual fattening period; the differences between breeds were statistically significant (P<0.05) for all periods, except the first month. Daily gains for Holstein were detected as 633 g and 1133 g, respectively at the beginning (1st month) and the end (6th month) of the fattening period. The same values for Simmental were also 933 g and 1233 g, respectively. The animals consumed water enriched with oxygen had higher values than the other group for both change of liveweights and daily gains during the fattening periods. But, these differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05). In addition to this, the average feed conversion value for the consuming enriched water group was 7.18. The same value was detected as 7.26. It was determined that Simmental cattle had higher hot dressing percentage value (56.55%) than Holstein cattle and also the group consumed water enriched with oxygen had higher value (56.02%) than the group consumed well water. This was the first study related the potential impacts of drinking water enriched with oxygen on fattening performance. Thereby, it can be predicted that the results of the present study will provide a data archive for further studies.