Abstract

Red clover and high proportion of forage in dairy cow diet increases the concentration of bioactive substances in milk, e.g. unsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants. In the present experiment twenty-four Swedish Red dairy cows were fed three silages in a Latin Square design to study the effect of silage botanical composition and harvest time on milk fatty acid, α-tocopherol and β-carotene concentration. The silages were red clover/grass silage (mixture of first and second cut), red clover/grass silage (mixture of first, second and third cut) and birdsfoot trefoil/grass silage (mixture of first and second cut). Botanical composition and harvest system affected silage vitamin and fatty acid concentration with higher concentrations of α-linolenic acid, α-tocopherol and β-carotene in red clover/grass silage (mixture of three harvests). Milk linoleic and α-linolenic acid concentration was higher with the two red clover diets but α-tocopherol, β-carotene and retinol concentration was not affected.

Published in

NJF Report
2010, Volume: 6, number: 3, pages: 133-136
Publisher: Nordic Association of Agricultural Scientists (NJF)

Conference

NJF Seminar 432 The potential of forage legumes to sustain a high agricultural productivity - a nordig perspective

SLU Authors

• Höjer, Annika

  • Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Martinsson, Kjell

  • Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Gustavsson, Anne-Maj

  • Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science
Agricultural Science


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/31221