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Effects of feeding early‐harvested orchardgrass–perennial ryegrass mixed silage instead of heading stage harvested timothy silage on digestion and milk production in dairy cows
Author(s) -
Miyaji Makoto,
Yajima Akira,
Tada Shingo,
Sudo Kenji,
Aoki Yasuhiro
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
animal science journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.606
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1740-0929
pISSN - 1344-3941
DOI - 10.1111/asj.13376
Subject(s) - silage , dry matter , forage , latin square , milk production , perennial plant , zoology , milk fat , dairy cattle , agronomy , nutrient , chemistry , biology , food science , rumen , fermentation , organic chemistry , linseed oil
We evaluated the effects of replacement of heading stage harvested timothy silage with early‐harvested orchardgrass–perennial ryegrass mixed (OP) silage while maintaining or reducing concentrate input on dry matter intake (DMI), milk production, nutrient digestibility, and N balance in dairy cows. Nine multiparous Holstein cows were used in a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square design with three dietary treatments: TYL, a diet containing timothy silage where forage‐to‐concentrate ratio (FC) was 50:50; OPL, a diet containing OP silage where FC ratio was 50:50; and OPH, a diet containing OP silage where FC ratio was 60:40. We observed that an equal replacement of timothy with OP silage increased DMI, milk yield, milk protein production, and nutrient digestibility but decreased milk fat content (TYL versus OPL). We observed that replacing timothy with OP silage while reducing concentrate input increased milk fat and protein yield, nutrient digestibility, and feed efficiency and reduced urinary N loss with no effect on DMI or milk fat content (TYL versus OPH). These results show that replacing timothy with OP silage can be a good approach to improve milk production, feed efficiency, and N utilization and reduce concentrate input. However, milk fat depression should be considered when an equal substitution is performed.