Evaluating the Influence of Various Forage Plant Varieties and Concentrate Additives in Milk Production and Quality in Cows
Abstract
The intention of this investigation is to examine the impact of specific forage plants and concentrated supplements on the quantity and quality of milk produced by local and crossbred cattle. A total of thirty lactating cattle, with an approximate body weight ranging from 300 to 350 kg and an age range of 5 to 11 years, were utilized for the investigation. The cattle were categorized into six groups, each consisting of five individuals. C1 and C2 were (local and crossbred cows, accordingly) exclusively fed with clover. C3 and C4(local and crossbred cows, respectively) were given a diet of both clover and sorghum stover. C5 and C6(local and crossbred cattle, respectively) were fed a combination of clover and concentrations. The findings indicated that the crossbred cattle in group C6 exhibited the maximum milk production (18.5k/day) compared to the other categories, with a significant difference (p<0.05). Following C6, group C5 had an average milk production of 13.9k/day. Groups C2, C4, C1 and C3 had average milk yields of 11.46k/day, 9.70k/day, 8.5 k/day and 8.7k/day, correspondingly. Regarding the milk elements, the experimental categories exhibited a notable variance (p<0.05) that can be linked to the kind of food and breeding.C (6) had the maximum fat content, measuring 6%, while C (3), (4) and (5) recorded fat contents of 4.5%, 4.7% and 5.7% sequentially. The dairy from C (1) and (2) exhibited the minimum fat level (3.7%) with statistical significance (p<0.05). The statistical assessment revealed a significant rise (p<0.05) in protein percentage for category (3) (6%), when compared to the other categories (1), (2), (4), (5) and (6), which registered protein percentages of 4.8%, 4.7%, 4.9%, 4.3% and 4.5%, respectively. The overall solids of C(1) and (2) were 13.4% and 13.6%, respectively, which were partially less (p<0.05) than the numbers achieved by cattle in C(3), (4), (5) and (6) of 14.7%, 14.9%, 14.7% and 14.9%, respectively. Furthermore, a substantial degree of variance was observed in the dust percentage clover (1) had a dust concentration. The liquid content of C (1) 89.5 and 90.9 C (2) was greater (p<0.05) compared to the other experimental groups C (3), (4), (5) and (6), which had water contents of 87%, 786.3%, 87.1% and 86.6% correspondingly.
References
Schaub, S., Finger, R., Leiber, F., Probst, S., Kreuzer, M., Weigelt, A., Buchmann, N. and Scherer-Lorenzen, M., (2020). Plant diversity effects on forage quality, yield and revenues of semi-natural grasslands. Nature Communications, 11(1), p.768.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14541-4
Augustine, D.J., Blumenthal, D.M., Springer, T.L., LeCain, D.R., Gunter, S.A. and Derner, J.D., (2018). Elevated CO 2 induces substantial and persistent declines in forage quality irrespective of warming in mixedgrass prairie. Ecological Applications, 28(3), pp.721-735.https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1680
Tilahun, G., Asmare, B. and Mekuriaw, Y., (2017). Effects of harvesting age and spacing on plant characteristics, chemical composition and yield of desho grass (Pennisetum pedicellatum Trin.) in the highlands of Ethiopia. Tropical Grasslands-Forrajes Tropicales, 5(2), pp.77-84.
Schultze-Kraft, R., Rao, I.M., Peters, M., Clements, R.J., Bai, C. and Liu, G., (2018). Tropical forage legumes for environmental benefits: An overview. Tropical Grasslands-Forrajes Tropicales, 6(1), pp.1-14.
Mueller-Harvey, I., Bee, G., Dohme-Meier, F., Hoste, H., Karonen, M., Kölliker, R., Lüscher, A., Niderkorn, V., Pellikaan, W.F., Salminen, J.P. and Skøt, L., (2019). Benefits of condensed tannins in forage legumes fed to ruminants: Importance of structure, concentration, and diet composition. Crop Science, 59(3), pp.861-885.https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2017.06.0369
Dylewski, Ł., Ortega, Y.K., Bogdziewicz, M. and Pearson, D.E., (2020). Seed size predicts global effects of small mammal seed predation on plant recruitment. Ecology Letters, 23(6), pp.1024-1033.https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13499
Sollenberger, L.E., Kohmann, M.M., Dubeux Jr, J.C. and Silveira, M.L., (2019). Grassland management affects delivery of regulating and supporting ecosystem services. Crop Science, 59(2), pp.441-459.https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2018.09.0594
Lichtenberg, E.M., Mendenhall, C.D. and Brosi, B., (2017). Foraging traits modulate stingless bee community disassembly under forest loss. Journal of Animal Ecology, 86(6), pp.1404-1416.https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12747
Hilario, M.C., Wrage-Mönnig, N. and Isselstein, J., (2017). Behavioral patterns of (co-) grazing cattle and sheep on swards differing in plant diversity. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, (191), pp.17-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2017.02.009
Albores-Moreno, S., Alayón-Gamboa, J.A., Morón-Ríos, A., Ortiz-Colin, P.N., Ventura-Cordero, J., González-Pech, P.G., Mendoza-Arroyo, G.E., Ku-Vera, J.C., Jiménez-Ferrer, G. and Piñeiro-Vázquez, A.T., (2020). Influence of the composition and diversity of tree fodder grazed on the selection and voluntary intake by cattle in a tropical forest. Agroforestry Systems, (94), pp.1651-1664.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-020-00483-9
Raffrenato, E., Fievisohn, R., Cotanch, K.W., Grant, R.J., Chase, L.E. and Van Amburgh, M.E., (2017). Effect of lignin linkages with other plant cell wall components on in vitro and in vivo neutral detergent fiber digestibility and rate of digestion of grass forages. Journal of dairy science, 100(10), pp.8119-8131. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2016-12364
Sarabia-Salgado, L., Solorio-Sánchez, F., Ramírez-Avilés, L., Rodrigues Alves, B.J., Ku-Vera, J., Aguilar-Pérez, C., Urquiaga, S. and Boddey, R.M., (2020). Increase in milk yield from cows through improvement of forage production using the N2-fixing legume Leucaena leucocephala in a silvopastoral system. Animals, 10(4), p.734.https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10040734
Cardoso, A.D.S., Barbero, R.P., Romanzini, E.P., Teobaldo, R.W., Ongaratto, F., Fernandes, M.H.M.D.R., Ruggieri, A.C. and Reis, R.A., (2020). Intensification: A key strategy to achieve great animal and environmental beef cattle production sustainability in Brachiaria grasslands. Sustainability, 12(16), p.6656.https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166656
Mohammed, A.S., Animut, G., Urge, M. and Assefa, G., (2020). Grazing behavior, dietary value and performance of sheep, goats, cattle and camels co-grazing range with mixed species of grazing and browsing plants. Veterinary and Animal Science, (10), p.100154.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vas.2020.100154
Kholif, A.E., Matloup, O.H., Morsy, T.A., Abdo, M.M., Elella, A.A., Anele, UY and Swanson, K.C., (2017). Rosemary and lemongrass herbs as phytogenic feed additives to improve efficient feed utilization, manipulate rumen fermentation and elevate milk production of Damascus goats. Livestock science, (204), pp.39-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2017.08.001
Kholif, A.E., Hassan, A.A., El Ashry, G.M., Bakr, M.H., El-Zaiat, H.M., Olafadehan, O.A., Matloup, O.H. and Sallam, S.M.A., (2021). Phytogenic feed additives mixture enhances the lactational performance, feed utilization and ruminal fermentation of Friesian cows. Animal Biotechnology, 32(6), pp.708-718. https://doi.org/10.1080/10495398.2020.1746322
Visentin, G., De Marchi, M., Berry, D.P., McDermott, A., Fenelon, M.A., Penasa, M. and McParland, S., (2017). Factors associated with milk processing characteristics predicted by mid-infrared spectroscopy in a large database of dairy cows. Journal of dairy science, 100(4), pp.3293-3304. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2016-12028
Singh, B.K., Chopra, R.C., Rai, S.N., Verma, M.P. and Mohanta, R.K., (2017). Nutritional evaluation of seaweed on nutrient digestibility, nitrogen balance, milk production and composition in Sahiwal cows. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences, (87), pp.437-443. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-015-0616-8
Batistel, F., de Souza, J. and Santos, F.A.P., (2017). Corn grain-processing method interacts with calcium salts of palm fatty acids supplementation on milk production and energy balance of early-lactation cows grazing tropical pasture. Journal of dairy science, 100(7), pp.5343-5357.https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2016-12503
Johansen, M., Søegaard, K., Lund, P. and Weisbjerg, M.R., (2017). Digestibility and Clover proportion determine milk production when silages of different grass and Clover species are fed to dairy cows. Journal of dairy science, 100(11), pp.8861-8880.https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2017-13401