Silage intake and milk production in cows given barley or barley fibre with or without dried distillers solubles

Abstract

Abstract. Twenty Friesian cows in four pens were arranged in a 4x4 Latin Square with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments to evaluate the effect of barley fibre with solubles and dried distillers solubles (DDS) as a protein supplement on silage intake and milk production. Each experimental period lasted 4 wk, during which the cows were given ad libitum silage with one of the four supplements: barley (B), barley + DDS (BD), barley fibre (F) and barley fibre + DDS (FD). All the supplements were given at the rate of 7.5 kg/day on dry matter (DM) basis. In cows given DDS, 0.9 kg of barley or barley fibre was replaced by DDS on DM basis. The principal carbohydrate constituent of the B supplement was starch and of the F supplement hemicellulose.Silage DM intake was 0.38 kg/day (P<0.05) higher for cows given F diets but the total DM intake was not significantly affected by the diet given.Milk yield was 2.2 kg/day (PcO.OOl) higher in cows given F diets than B diets. But milk fat content was lower (P<0.001), and as a result milk fat yield was slightly higher (805 v. 787 g/day), with B diets. F diets were also associated with a lower (P <0.05) protein concentration in milk, but because of the higher yield, milk protein yield was 8.3 % (P<0.001) higher than in B diets. Feeding F diets increased milk lactose content (P<0.05) and lactose yield (P< 0.001) relative to B diets. Live weight gain was higher (P<0.05) for cows given B diets. DDS supplementation had no significant effect on feed intake, milk production or milk composition. Cows given DDS increased their live weight less (PcO.OI) than those fed without DDS.Despite the smaller amount of ME available for production, milk energy yield was higher (Pc0.05) in cows given F diets, indicating a shift in energy partioning towards milk instead of body tissues. Estimates of the efficiency of utilization of ME for milk production were higher for cows given F diets than for those given B diets both including and ignoring live weight change in the calculations.The results show that barley fibre with solubles, despitea lower digestibility than barley, can produce more milk and protein and a similar yield of milk fat provided that silage is given ad libitum.

Milk production and concentrations of blood metabolites as influenced by the level of wet distiller’s solubles in dairy cows receiving grass silage-based diet

“…Similar effects of distiller's solubles on calculated utilization of ME were observed in our previous studies (Ala-Seppälä et al 1988;Huhtanen et ai. 1991).…”

“…Increasing dietary crude protein (CP) concentration by including dried distiller's solubles (DDS) in a grass silagebased diet had no effect on milk yield or milk composition (Ala-Seppälä et al 1988). In contrast, increasing protein content in the supplement by including soybean meal or fish meal has consistently increased milk yield in cows given grass silage ad libitum (Thomas and Rae 1988;Chamberlain et al 1989).…”

Effect of the rate of increase in concentrate allowance with concentrates high or low in starch on the performance of dairy cows in early lactation

“…For the S treatment, no difference in silage DMI between concentrates was noticed, but for the F treatment the silage intake was lower with the more fibrous concentrate B than A. Contrary to our results, Ala-Seppä lä et al (1988), Huhtanen et al (1988) and Aston et al (1994) measured increased silage intake when starchy concentrates were replaced by more fibrous concentrates. In these earlier studies the concentrate was given twice a day, whereas in our study the concentrate was given from computerized concentrate feeders during five feeding periods.…”

“…Diets containing fibrous byproducts supported higher ruminal pH than diets with starch-rich concentrates (Ørskov and Oltjen, 1967;Martin et al, 1994). Therefore feeding fibrous concentrates may increase the intake of grass silage, and thus energy, as shown in the study of Ala-Seppä lä et al (1988). However, to our knowledge there is no study focusing on the effect of concentrate composition with different rates of increase in concentrate allowance during the first weeks of lactation on substitution rate and cows' performance.…”

Barley fibre and wet distillers’ solubles in the diet of growing cattle

“…The calculated energy value of barley fibre was about 90% that of barley. Results with dairy cows showed that there was either no difference in the milk yield ofcows given barley or barley fibre (Huhtanen et al 1988) or milk yield was higher with barley fibre diets (Ala-Seppälä et al. 1988).…”