No abstract

It was aimed to analyze the productive performance of lactating cows on isoprotein fed diets, at differentiated environmental conditions. Eight Holstein cows were used, grouped in two 4 × 4 balanced Latin squares design. The treatments were evaluated in 2 × 2 factorial designs: sources of roughage (corn silage-CS plus concentrate, and the combination of corn silage with sugarcane-CSSC, 1:1 on DM, plus concentrate) and distinct environment (with= WS and without= OS, fan and nebulizers system= Sfn). The estimation of dry matter intake (DMI), productive performance and physicochemical parameters of milk were evaluated. There was no interaction effect of environment factors and source of forage. There was signi cant effects for the source forage factors, where the DMI for the CSSC based diet was higher than the CS based diet in the effect of forage (4.22 vs. 4.06% BW, and 22.3 vs. 21.7 kg/d, respectively, P≤0.05), but with similar milk production correcting 3.5% fat (23.01 vs. 22.62, CSSC and CS; 22.85 vs. 22.78 kg/day, WS and OS, respectively, P≥0.05). The feed ef ciency and conversion was similar in both factors (102.8 vs. 104.7% and 0.99 vs. 1.0, CSSC and CS; 102.5 vs. 104.9% and 1.0 vs. 0.99, WS and OS, respectively, P≥0.05). The bene t-diet cost ratio was higher for CS-based diet than for CSSC (7.44 vs. 6.97, P≤0.05). There were effects only in the forage factor for CP milk (3.26 vs. 3.23%, P≤0.05), lactose (4.54 vs. 4.49%, P≤0.05) and urea nitrogen in milk (23.21 vs. 20.71 mg/dL, P≤0.05) and the superiority arising from the CSSC-based diet in comparison to the CS diet. There was higher for T and THI (28.1 vs. 23.6°C and 75.1 vs. 71.1, respectively, P≤0.05), and lower RH to 2:00 pm (47.7 vs. 64.5%, P≤0.05). The linear score showed negative correlations with DMI, milk production, lactose and urea nitrogen (-0.36,-0.69,-0.44 and-0.32, P≤0.05, respectively). The use of the diet based on CSSC proposed increases in DMI and milk quality without affecting production, but with smaller bene t-diet cost ratio. The use of the environmental cooling system did not improve the production, qualitative parameters of milk and thermal comfort of dairy cows under the conditions evaluated.

The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effects of sugarcane and maize silage mixture v. maize silage in diets of Holstein cows and investigate performance under two environmental conditions. The cows were placed in freestalls, with individuals and stalls assigned to one of four treatments according to a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design with 20-day periods divided into 11 days of adaptation (wash-out period) and 9 days of collection. Treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design: total diets (maize silage (MS-based diet), the roughage mixture (RM-based diet, sugarcane : maize silage, 500 : 500 g/kg DM) plus concentrate); environmental conditions (with (W) and without (Wo) fan and nebulizers); and measurement times (09.40 and 14.00 h). The temperature and relative humidity was higher at 14.00 h and contributed to increased temperature-humidity index (76.6, W v. 75.9, Wo). Feed dry matter intake (DMI) was similar between diets (20.2 kg/day), but milk production and feed efficiency were lower with RM. Under W conditions, higher fat content and total solids of milk were observed with the RM-based diet, while crude protein and lactose were higher with MS. The Wo conditions increased body surface temperature (BS) in cows fed MS. The rectal temperature (RT) was higher with RM. The BS, RT and respiratory rate were higher at 14.00 h (34.9, 38.6 °C and 58.2 breaths/min) than at 09.40 h. The RM-based diet maintained DMI and milk composition, but not milk production. The use of the cooling system led to higher DMI and feed N efficiency use.