Corn Silage Hybrid Effects on Intake, Digestion, and Milk Production by Dairy Cows

Abstract

Three corn hybrids harvested as whole-plant silage were evaluated in three separate feeding trials with lactating dairy cows. In trial 1, 24 multiparous Holstein cows were used in a replicated 4 x 4 Latin square with 28-d periods. Treatments were conventional (Pioneer 3563) and leafy (Mycogen TMF 106) corn silage hybrids, each planted at low (59,000 plants/ha) and high (79,000 plants/ha) plant populations. There were no milk production differences between treatments. Total-tract digestibility of dietary starch was higher for leafy compared with conventional corn hybrids. In trial 2, 26 multiparous Holstein cows were assigned randomly to diets containing either conventional (48% forage diet) or brown-midrib (60% forage diet) corn silage in a crossover design with 8-wk periods. Milk yield was lower, but milk fat percentage and yield were higher, for the high-forage diet containing brown-midrib corn silage. In trial 3, 24 multiparous Holstein cows were used in a replicated 4 x 4 Latin square with 28-d periods. Treatments were corn silage at two concentrations of neutral detergent fiber (Garst 8751, 39.2% NDF; Cargill 3677, 32.8% NDF) each fed in normal- (53% of dry matter) and high- (61 to 67% of dry matter) forage diets. Milk production was not different between corn hybrids. Increased concentrate supplementation increased DMI and milk production. There were minimal benefits to the feeding of leafy or low-fiber corn silage hybrids. Feeding brown-midrib corn silage in a high-forage diet increased milk fat percentage and yield compared with conventional corn silage fed in a normal-forage diet.

Comparison of a Corn Silage Hybrid with High Cell-Wall Content and Digestibility with a Hybrid of Lower Cell-Wall Content on Performance of Holstein Cows

“…However, in their study, the passage rate for the brown midrib diet was also faster so that the increased rate of passage could have negated any increase in rumen digestibility. Other studies have also shown no difference in total-tract OM digestibility of a high-NDF digestibility and a lower NDF digestibility silage (Kuehn et al, 1999;Oba and Allen, 1999b;Bal et al, 2000). One possible explanation for the increase in ruminal turnover without an increase in total-tract OM digestibility is that the increased digestibility of the NDF in the rumen accounted for much of the increase in OM turnover in the rumen, but postruminally the OM that was passed out of the rumen was digested similarly between the 2 diets.…”

Effects of a dual-purpose bacterial inoculant on the fermentation characteristics of high-moisture maize silage and dairy cattle performance

“…The milk composition was calculated as the average of the triple samples, using the portion of daily production at milking time as a weighting factor (Bal et al, 2000). Acid detergent insoluble ash (ADIA) concentration was measured in the composited diet and faecal samples, and used as an internal marker to calculate the apparent total-tract digestibility of the nutrients (Nikkhah et al, 2004).…”

Genetic variation of maize silage ingestibility in dairy cattle

“…Recent unpublished data of Inra Lusignan showed that organic matter digestibility measured on wethers in digestibility crates ranged from 65.3 to 74.4% in a set of 232 registered early maize hybrids (mean value was 69.9%), and reached 76.8% in bm3 hybrids. Genetic variation in maize silage efficiency for milk or meat yield and quality was also proved in comparison (i) between normal hybrids [1,7,20], (ii) between normal and bm3 hybrids [4,5,17,26] and (iii) between normal and leafy hybrids [10,22,25] despite the fact that in these last experiments normal and leafy hybrids were not isogenic, and therefore the higher milk yield could not definitely be related to the leafy trait. Efficient methods are available for breeding maize of higher whole plant and cell wall digestibility.…”

“…Cows were paired and Maize silage ingestibility 491 4 hybrids out of the 6 tested hybrids, during 4 periods. For each hybrid and each set of cows, measurements were performed for 10 days over 2 weeks, after 2 weeks of pre-experimental feeding with the involved hybrid.…”