Extrusion-cooking has become a well established industrial technology with a number of food and feed applications. In addition to the usual benefits of heat processing, extrusion offers the possibility of modifying the functional properties of feed ingredients and/or of giving them a different texture (Cheftel, 1986). During the last 10-15 years significant advances have been made in the application of extrusion technology to the animal feed manufacturing. However there is a lack of information on the use of extruded products in starter diets for steers. The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effects on the performance of weaning and post-weaned steers of the inclusion of several extruded ingredients in the diet.

Thirty nine 1 to 2 week-old male friesian steers (mean body weight of 54 kg) were randomly assigned to 3 dietary treatments from outcome groups of similar initial weights.