Feeding ensiled crude olive cake to lactating Chios ewes, Damascus goats and Friesian cows

Abstract

Three trials (48 Chios ewes, 48 Damascus goats, and 22 Friesian cows) were carried out to study the effect of partial replacement of conventional (barley hay, barley straw) roughage (control, C group) with ensiled crude olive cake (OC) silage (S group) on the lactation performance of ewes, goats and cows. Within each trial, animals were stratified (pairs) based on their milk yield, and randomly allocated to the C or S group. OC silage was very well preserved judging from its aroma, colour, pH (4.7) and the lack of any mould. There was no difference between diets for milk yield (ewes: C 2.09, S 2.12; goats: C 2.10, S 2.05; cows: C 18.08, S 17.71 kg/d) and fat-corrected (ewes 6%, goats and cows 4%) milk yield (ewes: C 1.84, S 1.98; goats: C 2.07, S 2.13; cows: C 16.77, S 17.34 kg/d). Ewes on the S group produced milk of higher fat content ( P<0.01), but in the trials with goats and cows the difference was not significant ( P≥0.1). On the other hand, goats ( P<0.01) and cows ( P<0.05), but not ewes ( P>0.1), on the S group suffered greater body weight loss than those on C. Based on the results of the present study it may be concluded that the ensiling technique can be safely used for extended storage of OC, and that such silage can partially replace conventional roughages.