feeding frequency effects in early lactation on productive efficiency of holstein cows

the present study was conducted in order to determine the effects of feeding frequency (ff) on dairy cow performance fed a total mixed ration (tmr) based on chopped alfalfa hay. eight multiparous early lactation holstein cows were housed in the individual boxes (4 × 3 m) and fed either once a day (1x) at 0700 h or 4 times a day (4x) at 0100, 0700, 1300 and 1900 h with tmr. the experiment was done as a 2 × 2 crossover design with two 20-d periods. when ff changed from 4x to 1x, dry matter intake (21.1 vs. 20.0 kg/d) and nel intake (36.4 vs. 34.3 mcal/d) increased (p<0.005). there was no difference between treatments in percentage of remained feed to supplied tmr ratio (7.6 vs. 10%), milk yield (31.5 vs. 30.7 kg/d), milk nel output (21.7 vs. 21.4 mcal/d), fat content (3.5 vs. 3.6%), protein content (3.2 vs. 3.2%), milk nel to intake nel ratio (0.60 vs. 0.62), and fecal ph (6.64 vs. 6.62). urine ph was higher in 4x compared with 1x group (8.12 vs. 8.00), and serum insulin tended to be higher (10.9 vs. 6.9 µiu/ml) for 4x group. serum free fatty acids (0.45 vs.0.56µiu/ml) increased by 4x vs. 1x. generally, results showed that under uncompetitive individual feeding and housing, increasing feeding frequency does not have any productive and metabolic advantages.