Toggle Main Menu Toggle Search

Open Access padlockePrints

Effects of Sweet and Forge Sorghum Silages Compared to Maize Silage without Additional Grain Supplement on Lactation Performance and Digestibility of Lactating Dairy Cows

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Abdul ChaudhryORCiD

Downloads


Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

© 2024 by the authors. This study investigated the effects of replacing maize silage (MZS) with high-sugar sorghum silage (HSS) or forage sorghum silage (FSS) without additional grain supplement in the diets of dairy cows on nutrient digestibility, milk composition, nitrogen (N) use, and rumen fermentation. Twenty-four Chinese Holstein cows (545 ± 42.8 kg; 21.41 ± 0.62 kg milk yield; 150 ± 5.6 days in milk) were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments (n = 8 cows/treatment). The cows were fed ad libitum total mixed rations containing (dry matter basis) either 40% MZS (MZS-based diet), 40% HSS (HSS-based diet), or 40% FSS (FSS-based diet). The study lasted for 42 days, with 14 days devoted to adaptation, 21 days to daily feed intake and milk production, and 7 days to the sampling of feed, refusals, feces, urine, and rumen fluid. Milk production was measured twice daily, and digestibility was estimated using the method of acid-insoluble ash. The data were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA in SPSS 22.0 according to a completely randomized design. Dietary treatments were used as fixed effects and cows as random effects. The results indicate that MZS and HSS had greater crude protein but less neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), and a lower pH than FSS (p ≤ 0.04). High starch contents in MZS and water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) contents in HSS were observed (p < 0.01). While the highest starch intake was observed for the MZS-based diet, the highest WSC intake was noted for the HSS-based diet, and the highest NDF, ADF, ADL intake was observed for the FSS-based diet (p ≤ 0.05). The diets, including MZS and HSS, had greater digestibility than that of FSS (p ≤ 0.03). Feeding MZS- and HSS-based diets increased the yield, fat, and protein content of the milk, as well as feed conversion efficiency (p ≤ 0.03). However, feeding the MZS- and HSS-based diets decreased the contents of milk urea N, urinary urea N, and urinary N excretion more than the FSS-based diet (p ≤ 0.05). The N use efficiency tended to increase relative to diets containing MZS and HSS compared with FSS (p = 0.06 and p = 0.09). Ruminal ammonia-N and pH were lower, but total volatile fatty acids, acetate, and propionate were higher in cows fed the HSS- and MZS-based diets compared to those fed the FSS-based diet (p ≤ 0.03). It appears as though replacing MZS with HSS in the diet of cows without additional grain supplements has no negative influence on feed intake, milk yield, N utilization, or ruminal fermentation.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Zhang S, Wang J, Lu S, Chaudhry AS, Tarla D, Khanaki H, Raja IH, Shan A

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Animals

Year: 2024

Volume: 14

Issue: 11

Online publication date: 05/06/2024

Acceptance date: 02/06/2024

Date deposited: 24/06/2024

ISSN (electronic): 2076-2615

Publisher: MDPI

URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14111702

DOI: 10.3390/ani14111702


Altmetrics

Altmetrics provided by Altmetric


Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
Key Laboratory of Tarim Animal Husbandry Science and Technology, Xinjiang Production & Construction Group (No. HS202101)
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31160472)
XJARS (No. XJARS-11)

Share