The effects of legume seeds on the lactation performance of dairy cows fed grass silage-based diets

Abstract

The aim was to study if locally produced organic legume seeds as protein supplement could improve the performance of dairy cows. The experiment was a cyclic change over design were the control diet consisted of grass silage and barley (60:40) on a dry matter (DM) basis. Barley was replaced with rapeseed expeller (RSE), or isonitrogenous supplements of peas, untreated field beans (UFB), heat-treated FB (TFB) or a lower level of TFB (TFB-low) that provided the same dietary metabolizable protein concentrations as of UFB. None of the legume protein supplementations had effect on DM intake (DMI) neither on energy corrected milk yield compared to control. The RSE treatment increased milk (24.8 vs. 23.6 kg d(-1)) and protein yield (913 vs. 863 g d(-1)) compared to other protein supplements. Heat-treated FB had no effect on DMI, milk or protein yield compared to UFB. Only RSE resulted in improvements in dairy cows performance in relation to the control diet.

Keywords

field beans; heat treatment; protein supplement; pea; rapeseed expeller

Published in

Agricultural and Food Science
2017, volume: 26, number: 3, pages: 129-137
Publisher: SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURAL SOC FINLAND

SLU Authors

• Ramin, Mohammad

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

• Höjer, Annika

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

• Hetta, Mårten

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

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.64417

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/93412