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

Authors

• Hannele Ala-Seppälä Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Helsinki SF-00710 Helsinki, Finland
• Pekka Huhtanen Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Helsinki SF-00710 Helsinki, Finland
• Matti Näsi Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Helsinki SF-00710 Helsinki, Finland

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.72340

Abstract

Twenty Friesian cows in four pens were arranged in a 4 x 4 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 (P<0.001) 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 weightless (P<0.01) than those fed without DDS. Despite the smaller amount of ME available for production, milk energy yield was higher (P<0.05) 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, despite a lower digestibility than barley, can produce more milk and protein and a similar yield of milk fat provided that silage is given ad libitum.