Adding of Substandard Sunflower Seeds as an Energy Supplement to the Ration of Dairy Cows

Abstract

Substandard sunflower seeds surpass the sunflower meal and oil cake by their level of metabolic energy by 1.2–1.5 times and can replace these high-calorie feed materials in the rations of cattle. In mixed feed, whose structure includes the substandard sunflower seeds (5% in mass), the share of the cleavable protein decreased by 1.3% and digestibility of the dry matter increased by 2.3% as compared to mixed feed, whose structure includes sunflower cake (8% in mass). Both variants of the mixed feeds were used in the experiment on cows of the white-and-black breed with the live weight of 600 kg and average daily milk yield of 25–28 kg within the first lactation phase in the structure of the total feed mix ration. The metabolism and digestive processes in the rumen of the animals fed with the substandard sunflower seeds proceeded without any disturbances. In the ruminal fluid, the concentration of the ammonia nitrogen was lower by 6.75 mg % on average. Furthermore, in the milk of the cows, the content of the milk fat increased by 5.2% and the urea content decreased by 9%.