The effect of degree of grass wilting prior to ensiling on performance and energy utilisation by lactating dairy cattle

نویسنده

  • E. F. Unsworth
چکیده

Thirty lactating Holstein Friesian cows were used in a three treatment randomised block design experiment to investigate the influence of degree of grass wilting prior to ensiling on animal performance and energy utilisation. The three forage treatments were produced from perennial ryegrass swards either ensiled directly or mown, conditioned, spread and tedded to ensure rapid wilting, and ensiled following 30 or 52 h to achieve dry matter (DM) concentrations in the silages of 193, 286 and 437 g/kg respectively. All silages were offered in ad libitum quantities for a 5-week period and in addition all cows received 10 kg/d of a concentrate containing 206 g CP/kg DM. Total diet digestibility data were recorded on four cows/ treatment and methane outputs on two cows/ treatment during the final week of the experiment. The daily intake of silage DM increased with increased wilting – 7.2, 7.3, and 8.4 (s.e.m. 0.44) kg DM – but milk yield was highest with the unwilted silage – 23.3, 20.5 and 21.7 (s.e.m. 0.80) kg/d – for the unwilted, medium and high levels of wilting respectively. Wilting had no effect on the yield of milk fat or protein but the nutrient utilisation studies suggested that the overall efficiency of metabolisable energy conversion to milk energy output was reduced with increasing degree of wilting.  2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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تاریخ انتشار 2000