The effect of amount of protein in the concentrates on hay intake and rate of passage, diet digestibility and milk production in British Saanen goats

Abstract

During the first 2 weeks after kidding, 27 multiparous British Saanen goats were offered 1·5 kg hay (98 g crude protein (CP) per kg dry matter (DM)) and from 0·45 increasing to 0·70 kg concentrates (152 g CP per kg DM) daily. Week 2 was used as a covariance period. At week 3 of lactation all the goats were allocated to one of three groups and were offered hay ad libitum and 1 kg concentrates containing 117 (LP), 152 (MP) or 185 (HP) g CP per kg DM daily to week 15. During weeks 4 to 15, hay intake and milk yield were highest in the HP group. With increasing protein in the concentrates, hay DM intake was 1·20, 1·19 and 1·37 (s.e. 0·060) kg/day respectively and milk yield was 3·04, 3·21 and 3·36 (s.e. 0·080) kg/day respectively (linear response P < 001). There was no significant effect on the concentration of solids-not-fat, fat, total nitrogen or casein in milk. The digestibility of dietary organic matter, acid-detergent fibre and total nitrogen measured after week 15 was significantly greater with HP than with LP (P < 0·05), with MP values being intermediate (linear response P < 005). The rate of passage of ytterbium-labelled hay was unaffected by the treatments. The results indicate that, with lactating goats given hay and concentrates, beneficial responses may be expected to increasing concentrate CP to at least 185 g CP per kg DM.

Effects of supplementation of Farta sheep fed hay with sole or mixtures of noug seed meal and wheat bran on feed intake, digestibility and body weight change

“…Indeed, McDonald et al (2002) reported that the apparent digestibility of OM might be as high as 85% in immature pasture grass and as low as 45% in winter herbage. Contrary to the present study, different authors indicated that supplementation could increase digestibility of OM, ADF and DM of which Badamana et al (1990) indicated that increasing CP in concentrates increased the digestibility of OM, ADF and CP. Similarly, Nicholson and Sutton (1969) reported that the apparent digestion coefficient for DM, OM and energy were higher for high concentrate than for high roughage rations both in stomach and in the entire digestive tract.…”

Inclusion of Peas as Protein Sources in the Diet of Dairy Goats in Organic Breeding

“…Achieved losses in body weight of lactating goats are in accordance with the previous research and knowledge about the metabolism in lactating goats [19]. Morand-Fehr et al [20] and Badamana et al [21] concluded that the goats per kidding in the first month of lactation lose 1 kg of the body weight per week, and in the next month, 0.5 kg/week. Body weight losses of goats from the control group were in agreement with these studies.…”

Heat—Moisture Treatment of Rapeseed Meal: Effect on Digestibility of the Diet, Voluntary Grass Silage Intake and Growth Rate of Ayrshire Bulls

“…However, most of this increase was clearly only apparent, related to the decreased proportion of faecal metabolic nitrogen in total nitrogen recovered in faeces when the CP content increased (Minson, 1982). The positive effects of protein supplementation on diet digestion have usually been recorded for diets of low digestibility (Badamana et al, 1990;DelCurto et al, 1990) or poor fermentation quality (Jaakkola et al, 1990). The digestibility and fermentation quality of grass silage in this experiment were high.…”