Feeding F1 Holstein x Zebu cows with different roughages and pseudostem hay of banana trees does not influence milk yield and chemical composition of milk and cheese

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of different roughage associated with pseudostem hay of banana trees on nutrients intake, chemical composition of milk and cheese and the fatty acid profile of F1 Holstein x Zebu cows. Eight cows F1 Holstein x Zebu were used in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design, each composed of four animals, four treatments and four experimental periods. Four experimental diets were used: diet 1 – sorghum silage as exclusive dietary roughage; diet 2 – sorghum silage (70%) associated with 30% pseudostem hay of banana trees (dry matter basis; SS); diet 3 – 70% elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum cv. Roxo) with 30% pseudostem hay of banana trees (dry matter basis; EGPS); and diet 4 – 70% sugar cane with 30% pseudostem hay of banana trees (dry matter basis; SCPS). The roughage: concentrate ratio in the four experimental diets was 75:25 in dry matter basis. For the chemical composition of milk and cheese, there was no difference between diets except for milk urea nitrogen which was higher with the EGPS diet. However, in the lipid fraction of milk, the EGPS diet favoured the increase of total monounsaturated fatty acids, besides increasing the concentration of conjugated linoleic acid, contributing to the improvement of some nutritional evaluation indexes of the milk lipid fraction. The pseudostem hay of banana trees associated with different roughages did not influence the chemical composition of milk and cheese of F1 Holstein x Zebu cows. Highlights The inclusion of pseudostem hay of banana trees in the diet of F1 Holstein x Zebu cows does not change the milk yield corrected for 3.5% fat. Pseudostem hay of banana trees diet of lactating cows increased the concentration of omega 6 in milk. Pseudostem hay in the diet of lactating crossbred cows did not change the yield, flavour and appearance of the cheese.