Four early lactation multiparous Holstein cows were used in a 4 x 4 Latin square to investigate the effects of source of protein (fish meal or soybean meal) and carbohydrate (corn or barley) on ruminal fermentation, flow of nutrients to the small intestine, and animal performance. The treatments, arranged in a 2 x 2 (protein x carbohydrate) factorial were: 1) corn plus soybean meal; 2) corn plus fish meal; 3) barley plus soybean meal; and 4) barley plus fish meal. Dry matter and starch intakes were greater when corn was fed than when barley was fed. Barley-based diets were more extensively degraded in the rumen than corn-based diets and therefore provided more energy for microbial growth. However, passage of amino acids and starch to the duodenum was greater for corn-based diets than barley-based diets, because of the greater intake and lower ruminal degradability of the corn-based diets. Microbial protein constituted a larger portion of the total N and had a greater influence on the pattern and quantity of amino acids that passed to the duodenum than did protein from fish meal or soybean meal, which escaped ruminal degradation. Feeding corn-based diets increased production of milk and milk protein compared with feeding barley-based diets.

No abstract

Five Holstein cows were used in a 5 x 5 Latin square design and fed diets containing five different ratios of starch from ground shelled corn and steam-rolled barley. The DMI decreased and both the proportions of OM and starch digested in the rumen increased as barley starch increased in the diet. Corn and barley starches fed in a ratio of 75:25 maximized the proportions of ADF and NDF digested in the rumen. Replacement of 25% of the corn starch with barley starch resulted in the largest increase in the molar percentage of propionate and the largest decrease in the molar percentage of acetate in ruminal fluid. Passage of NAN to the duodenum was not affected by treatment; however, the percentage of nonammonia nonmicrobial N in NAN decreased as barley starch increased. Passage of AA to the duodenum was largest when corn and barley starches were fed in ratios of 100: 0 and 0:100 because of the influence of DMI and microbial protein synthesis. Production of Milk, CP, and SNF was similar when cows were fed diets containing corn and barley starches in ratios of 100:0, 75:25, and 50:50 but was decreased when the ratios were 25:75 and 0:100. Increased production responses of cows when diets contained larger amounts of starch from ground shelled corn were probably due to increased DMI.

Bovine mammary tissue was collected by surgical biopsy at intervals during involution for histological and ultrastructural observation. In lactating tissue (d 0 of involution, collected 8 h after the final milking), alveolar epithelial cells had marked ultrastructural evidence of lactation, including protein-containing secretory vesicles, lipid droplets, extensive rough endoplasmic reticulum, and numerous mitochondria. By d 2 of involution, alveolar epithelial cells contained large vacuoles apparently formed by coalescing of protein-containing secretory vesicles and lipid droplets. Large vacuoles were observed in epithelial cells until about the 3rd wk of involution. By d 2 of involution, the Golgi apparatus generally was not apparent. Rough endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria were observed throughout the period studied, although in reduced amounts compared with their presence in lactating tissue. A marked increase in lysosomal or cytosegresomal structures in epithelial cells was not observed. There was no evidence of extensive sloughing of epithelial cells from the basement membrane. There was a progressive increase in the interalveolar area and a concurrent decrease in the alveolar luminal area as involution progressed. Ultrastructural examination showed that alveolar epithelial cells at d 21 and 30 of involution appear to be functionally active but not secreting milk components.