ISSN:
1365-2494
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
In two changeover design experiments, fifteen early- and sixteen late-lactation cows were used to investigate the effects of offering food beet with ad libitum grass silage and concentrates with different CP content on milk yield and quality. In Experiment 1 (early lactation) cows were offered no fodder beet (0) or 4 kg DM d−1 (4) in conjunction with one of three concentrates containing 159, 191 or 244g CP kg−1 DM (L.M.H.). Treatments were therefore 1L/0, 1L/4, 1M/0, 1M/4, 1H/0 and 1H/4. In Experiment 2 (late lactation) cows were offered the same level of fodder beet in conjunction with two concentrates containing 129 and 229 (L,H) g CP kg−1 DM. Treatments were therefore 2L/0, 2L/4, 2H/0 and 2H/4.In both experiments feeding fodder beet reduced silage DM intakes (P 〈 0·001) and increased total DM intake (P 〈 0·05 to P 〈 0·001). The substitution rate (r) ranged from 0·46 to 0·59kg of silage DM (kg−1 fodder beet DM).In Experiment 1, fodder beet tended to increase milk yield, composition and yield of constituents, but the effect was statistically significant for milk protein content only (P 〈 0·01). In Experiment 2, milk yields for 2L/0, 2L/4, 2H/0 and 2H/4 were 11·3, 12·1, 11·7 and 12·5 kg d−1 respectively (s.e.d. 0·43, non-significant), fat contents were 44·4, 47·3, 44·3 and 46·8g fat kg−1 respectively (s.e.d. 0·73, P 〈 0·001), protein contents were 34·3, 35·6, 35·3 and 36·2 g protein kg−1 respectively (s.e.d. 0·28, P 〈 0·001), fat yields were 494, 574, 512 and 579 g fat d−1 respectively (s.e.d. 20, P 〈 0·001) and protein yields were 385, 426, 407 and 442 g protein d−1 (s.e.d. 13, P 〈 0·01) respectively.Increasing CP in the concentrate significantly increased milk yield in Experiment 1 (23·9, 22·5, 23·5, 23·8, 26·2, 26·5kg d−1 for 1L/0, 1L/4, 1M/0, 1M/4, 1H/0 and 1H/4 respectively, P 〈 0·05). Higher CP in concentrate also resulted in significantly increased milk protein yield in early-lactation (P 〈 0·001) and milk protein content in late-lactation (P 〈 0·01) cows. There was a significant interaction between fodder beet and concentrate CP content for milk protein yield (P 〈 0·001) in Experiment 1.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2494.1994.tb01974.x
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