TY - GEN
T1 - Effects of mixing red clover and maize silages on milk production and whole-body N partitioning in dairy cows
AU - Moorby, Jon M.
AU - Ellis, Naomi Mary
AU - Fisher, William J.
AU - Davies, D. W. Robert
AU - Davies, David R.
N1 - Moorby, J. M., Ellis, N. M., Fisher, W. J., Davies, D. W. R., Davies, D. R. (2008). Effects of mixing red clover and maize silages on milk production and whole-body N partitioning in dairy cows. Proceedings of the Second Scientific conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research, held at the 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress, Modena, Italy, 16-20 June 2008, 2, 180-183
P180-183 Proceedings of the Second Scientific conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research, held at the 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress, Modena, Italy, 16-20 June 2008
RONO: 1920 6614;1920 4215
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - Twenty-four multiparous Holstein-Friesian dairy cows in mid lactation were used in a 33 Latin square changeover experiment with three 4-week periods to investigate the effect of altering the ratios of red clover (RC) silage and maize silage in the forage component of their diet. Ratios (in the dry matter (DM)) were: RC10, 0.1 RC:0.9 maize; RC50, 0.5 RC:0.5 maize; RC90, 0.9 RC:0.1 maize. All cows received ad libitum access to their allocated forage with 4 kg of a standard concentrate per day. Whole-body N partitioning and whole-tract diet digestibility measurements were carried out using a subset of cows (n=9). Results are presented in order of RC10, RC50 and RC90 respectively. Feed DM intakes (19.6, 20.5, 19.5 kg DM d-1, s.e.d. 0.32, P<0.01) and milk yields (26.1, 27.3, 25.7 kg milk d-1, s.e.d. 0.54, P<0.01) were highest on diet RC50. Milk protein concentrations decreased (P<0.001) as forage RC proportion increased, and protein yields were significantly (P<0.01) higher on diet RC50. Urine N excretion was lowest (as a ratio to N intake), and milk N secretion was highest, on diet RC10. It is concluded that milk and protein yields can be improved by feeding RC silage as 1:1 mix with maize silage, but that the efficiency of utilisation of forage N was reduced when diets contained more than 0.1 RC silage.
AB - Twenty-four multiparous Holstein-Friesian dairy cows in mid lactation were used in a 33 Latin square changeover experiment with three 4-week periods to investigate the effect of altering the ratios of red clover (RC) silage and maize silage in the forage component of their diet. Ratios (in the dry matter (DM)) were: RC10, 0.1 RC:0.9 maize; RC50, 0.5 RC:0.5 maize; RC90, 0.9 RC:0.1 maize. All cows received ad libitum access to their allocated forage with 4 kg of a standard concentrate per day. Whole-body N partitioning and whole-tract diet digestibility measurements were carried out using a subset of cows (n=9). Results are presented in order of RC10, RC50 and RC90 respectively. Feed DM intakes (19.6, 20.5, 19.5 kg DM d-1, s.e.d. 0.32, P<0.01) and milk yields (26.1, 27.3, 25.7 kg milk d-1, s.e.d. 0.54, P<0.01) were highest on diet RC50. Milk protein concentrations decreased (P<0.001) as forage RC proportion increased, and protein yields were significantly (P<0.01) higher on diet RC50. Urine N excretion was lowest (as a ratio to N intake), and milk N secretion was highest, on diet RC10. It is concluded that milk and protein yields can be improved by feeding RC silage as 1:1 mix with maize silage, but that the efficiency of utilisation of forage N was reduced when diets contained more than 0.1 RC silage.
KW - dairy cows
KW - maize
KW - milk production
KW - nitrogen partitioning
KW - red clover
M3 - Conference Proceeding (Non-Journal item)
SP - 16
EP - 20
BT - Proceedings of the Second Scientific conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research
T2 - Proceedings of the Second Scientific Conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR)
Y2 - 18 June 2008 through 20 June 2008
ER -