Abstract
Twenty Friesian cows in four pens were arranged in a 4 x 4 Latin square experiment with 4 wk experimental periods to evaluate the effects on feed intake, milk yield and milk composition of treating barley dried distiller’s solubles (DDS) with a formaldehyde reagent, and to compare DDS with rapeseed meal as a protein supplement in dairy cows given a grass silage-based diet. The control diet (C) consisted of grass silage ad libitum fed with 8.5 kg/d of concentrate based on barley, oats and barley fibre (250, 250 and 500 g/kg dry matter (DM)). In three other diets 1.5 kg/d of the basal concentrate was replaced with rapeseed meal (RSM) treated for reduced ruminal degradability, 1.5 kg of untreated DDS (UDDS) or 1.5 kg of DDS treated with formaldehyde reagent at the level of 15 l/t (TDDS). On average, protein supplementation increased silage and total DM intake by approximately 0.5 kg/d (P>0.05). Milk yield (P
Highlights
Dairy cows have shown considerable response to feeding of supplementary protein with grass silage based diets (Gordon et al 1981; Thomas and Rae 1988; Chamberlain et al 1989)
A feeding experiment was undertaken to study the effect of the treatment of dried distiller’s solubles (DDS) with formaldehyde reagent, and to compare DDS and rapeseed meal treated for reduced ruminal degradability as protein supplements for dairy cows given grass silage ad libitum
The main effect of increasing supplementary crude protein intake was an increase in silage DM intake, in agreement with the observations of Murphy et al (1985), HeikkilA et al (1987, unpublished), Tuori and SyrjAlA-Qvist (1988, 1989, unpublished) in studies with rapeseed meal (RSM)
Summary
Dairy cows have shown considerable response to feeding of supplementary protein with grass silage based diets (Gordon et al 1981; Thomas and Rae 1988; Chamberlain et al 1989). It seemed reasonable that the supply of undegraded protein from distiller’s solubles might be increased ifthe protein were protected from ruminal degradation by treatment with formaldehyde reagent. Treatment in this way of barley, whose protein is highly degradable in the rumen, has increased milk yield in dairy cows given grass silage-based diet (Kassem et al 1987). A feeding experiment was undertaken to study the effect of the treatment of DDS with formaldehyde reagent, and to compare DDS and rapeseed meal treated for reduced ruminal degradability as protein supplements for dairy cows given grass silage ad libitum
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