Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-dfsvx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T22:02:15.347Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Influence of plane of nutrition and diet composition on rumen fermentation and energy utilization by dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

J. D. Sutton ,
W. H. Broster ,
E. Schuller ,
D. J. Napper ,
Valerie J. Broster  and
J. A. Bines
J. D. Sutton
Affiliation:
National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, Reading*
W. H. Broster
Affiliation:
National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, Reading*
E. Schuller
Affiliation:
National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, Reading*
D. J. Napper
Affiliation:
National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, Reading*
Valerie J. Broster
Affiliation:
National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, Reading*
J. A. Bines
Affiliation:
National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, Reading*
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Mean digestible energy (DE) intakes of 147 cows of three parities receiving three levels of DE including one ad libitum (about 2·2, 2·6 and 3·3 multiples of maintenance (MM)) drawn from three mixed diets containing hay and 60, 75 or 90% compound were calculated.

Rumen samples were taken from three-quarters of the cows at monthly intervals throughout the experiment. Molar proportions of volatile fatty acids (VFA) in the rumen were not affected by stage of lactation over the 36 weeks of the experiment. The proportion of acetic acid decreased and that of propionic acid increased with greater intakes and with higher proportions of compound in the diet. The proportion of n-butyric acid was little affected by level of intake but decreased with increasing proportions of compound. In young, non-lactating cattle given the same diets but at lower levels of intake, VFA proportions were unaffected by diet composition at intakes of about 0·7 MM but at intakes of about 1·3 MM the proportion of acetate decreased and that of propionate increased when the proportion of compound was increased from 75 to 90%.

The efficiency of milk energy production in relation to DE or metabolizable energy (ME) above maintenance decreased with increasing level of intake but was little affected by the proportion of compound. Partition towards live weight increased with level of intake in early lactation but not in late lactation. It also increased with higher proportions of compound in mid and late lactation but not in early lactation.

Estimates of the ME requirement for live-weight change (LWC) were in reasonable agreement with recently published standards in early lactation when live weight was decreasing, but later in lactation when live-weight gain was occurring, a much higher value was calculated which is difficult to reconcile with these standards.

Rumen VFA proportions were related to dietary fibre concentration and level of intake additively. The relationship to VFA proportions was close for milk fat concentration, but less so for energy partition towards live weight and none was apparent for the efficiency of ME utilization for milk energy production. It is suggested that both the reduction in milk fat concentration and the increase in milk yield in response to reductions in the fibre content of diets may be independently related to the increase in the proportion of propionate in the rumen VFA.

It is concluded that further progress in studies of the dietary factors affecting the efficiency of milk production will require measurements of nutrient uptake from the digestive tract and description of milk production and LWC in terms of their chemical composition rather than energy alone.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 110 , Issue 2 , April 1988 , pp. 261 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural Research Council (1965). The Nutrient Requirements of Farm Livestock. No. 2, Ruminants. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Agricultural Research Council (1980). The Nutrient Requirements of Ruminant Livestock. Farnham Royal: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux.Google Scholar
Alderman, G., Broster, W. H., Strickland, M. J. & Johnson, C. L. (1982). The estimation of the energy value of liveweight change in the lactating dairy cow. Livestock Production Science 9, 665–673.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bath, I. H. & Rook, J. A. F. (1963). The evaluation of cattle foods and diets in terms of the ruminal concentration of volatile fatty acids. 1. The effects of level of intake, frequency of feeding, the ratio of hay to concentrates in the diet, and of supplementary feeds. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 61, 341–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bines, J. A., Broster, W. H., Sutton, J. D., Broster, V. J., Napper, D. J., Smith, T. & Siviter, J. W. (1988). Effect of amount consumed and diet composition on the apparent digestibility of feed in cattle and sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 110, 249–259.Google Scholar
Broster, W. H., Sutton, J. D., Bines, J. A., Broster, V. J., Smith, T., Siviter, J. W., Johnson, V. W., Napper, D. J. & Schuller, E. (1985). The influence of plane of nutrition and diet composition on the performance of dairy cows. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 104, 535–557.Google Scholar
Elliot, J. M. & Loosli, J. K. (1959). Effect of the dietary ratio of hay to concentrate on milk production, ration digestibility, and urinary energy losses. Journal of Dairy Science 42, 836–842.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flatt, W. P., Moe, P. W., Moore, L. A., Hooven, N. W., Lehmann, R. P., Ørskov, E. R. & Hemken, R. W. (1969 a). Energy utilization by high producing dairy cows. I. Experimental design, ration composition, digestibility data, and animal performance during energy balance trials. In Energy Metabolism of Farm Animals (ed. Blaxter, K. L., Thorbek, G. and Kielanowski, J.), pp. 221–234. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Oriel Press.Google Scholar
Flatt, W. P., Moe, P. W., Munson, A. W. & Cooper, T. (1969 b). Energy utilization by high producing dairy cows. II. Summary of energy balance experiments with lactating Holstein cows. In Energy Metabolism of Farm Animals (ed. Blaxter, K. L., Thorbek, G. and Kielanowski, J.), pp. 235–249. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Oriel Press.Google Scholar
Holter, J. B., Jones, L. A., Colovos, N. F. & Urban, W. E. (1972). Caloric value of acetate and propionate for lactating dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 55, 1757–1762.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ørskov, E. R., Flatt, W. P., Moe, P. W., Munson, A. W., Hemken, R. W. & Katz, I. (1969). The influence of ruminal infusion of volatile fatty acids on milk yield and composition and on energy utilization by lactating cows. British Journal of Nutrition 23, 443–453.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rook, J. A. F. & Balch, C. C. (1961). The effects of intraruminal infusions of acetic, propionic and butyric acids on the yield and composition of the milk of the cow. British Journal of Nutrition 15, 361–369.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, T., Broster, W. H. & Siviter, J. W. (1980). An assessment of barley straw and oat hulls as energy sources for yearling cattle. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 95, 677–686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snedecor, G. W. & Cochran, W. G. (1967). Statistical Methods, 6th edn.Iowa: Iowa State University Press.Google Scholar
Sutton, J. D. (1985). Digestion and absorption of energy substrates in the lactating cow. Journal of Dairy Science 68, 3376–3393.Google Scholar
Sutton, J. D., Bines, J. A., Morant, S. V., Napper, D. J. & Givens, D. I. (1987). A comparison of starchy and fibrous concentrates for milk production, energy utilization and hay intake by Friesian cows. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 109, 375–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutton, J. D., Broster, W. H., Schuller, E., Smith, T. & Napper, D. J. (1978). Long-term effect of level of intake and diet composition on the performance of lactating cows. 3. Milk composition and rumen fermentation. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 36, 147A.Google Scholar
Sutton, J. D., Hart, I. C., Broster, W. H., Elliott, R. J. & Schuller, E. (1986). Feeding frequency for lactating cows: effects on rumen fermentation and blood metabolites and hormones. British Journal of Nutrition 56, 181–192.Google Scholar
Sutton, J. D. & Johnson, V. W. (1969). Fermentation in the rumen of cows given rations containing hay and flaked maize or rolled barley in widely different proportions. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 73, 459–468.Google Scholar