The use of rape seeds in concentrates for dairy cows.
Abstract
An experiment was conducted with dairy cows to investigate the effects on milk performance of feeding concentrates containing 25 % fullfat rape seeds. 14 Brown Swiss and 14 dual-purpose Simmental dairy cows were used, from the beginning of the lactation until 150 days in milk. The forage components were grass silage, corn silage, fodder beets and hay. The control group (7 animals from each breed) was fed concentrates consisting of 25% soy bean meal, 37.5% triticale and 37.5% barley. In the experimental group these concentrate components were partially replaced by rape seeds so that the concentrates for both groups were isonitrogenous and almost isocaloric. Concentrates were offered according to the animals' performance, but the amount was limited to 4 kg per cow per day. When the influence of the breed and of the different number of lactations of the cows was eliminated, no significant difference was observed between the two groups either with regard to forage intake or to milk performance (kg milk, % milk fat, % milk protein). There was a significant interaction between feed groups and breeds with respect to milk protein performance (P = .025). The use of rape seeds, up to 1 kg per animal per day, proved to have no negative impact on the performance of dairy cows.
keywords rape feed intake dairy cattle performance cattle
Publikationen
Project staff
Wilhelm Friedrich Knaus
Ao.Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat.techn. Wilhelm Friedrich Knaus
wilhelm.knaus@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-93235
Project Leader
06.12.1994 - 31.03.1996