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THE EFFECT OF LEVEL OF PROTEIN IN SILAGE ON THE INTAKE AND PRODUCTION OF DAIRY COWS
Author(s) -
Castle M. E.,
Watson J. N.,
Hughes A. D.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2494.1969.tb01068.x
Subject(s) - silage , zoology , milk production , food science , milk protein , biology , chemistry , agronomy
Two silages of contrasting protein content were compared in a 16‐week winter‐feeding experiment with 12 Ayrshire cows. One silage contained 8.2% DCP in its DM and the other 15.9% DCP. The silages were fed ad lib . with a supplement of either barley or barley plus groundnut cake. The DM digestibilities of the low and high protein silages were 74 and 67%, respectively, and the calculated S.E.s 56 and 47. Silage and total DM intakes were highest in the treatments containing low protein silage and in those containing groundnut. The mean daily milk yields for the treatments with and without groundnut were 35.4 and 32.s5 Ib (16.1 and 14.8 kg), respectively, with the high‐protein silage, and 38.1 and 35.0 Ib (17.3 and 15.9 kg) with the low‐protein silage. The S.N.F. contents of the milk were low and averaged 8.26 and 8.34% on the high‐ and low‐protein silage treatments, respectively, and were not affected significantly by the supplements. It is concluded that the low‐protein silage was superior to the high‐protein silage as a feed for cows, and that the digestibility of the silage DM was a truer indication of quality than protein content.