Soybean hulls replacing ground corn in diets for early lactation Saanen goats: intake, digestibility, milk production and quality

Abstract

-The objective of this study was to evaluate productive performance and milk quality of Saanen goats fed diets with soybean hulls replacing ground corn (0, 50 and 100% replacement) in early lactation (from birth to 50 days of lactation). Fourteen goats (72.30±9.14 kg of BW) were used in a completely randomized design. Animals were confined in individual stalls, with daily control of feed intake and milk production. On the 30th day of lactation, fecal sampling started in order to determine nutrients digestibility. Every month, milk samples were collected for analyses of fat, protein, lactose and total solid percentage, somatic cell count, N-urea, acidity, density and also milk fatty acid profile. No differences were observed between diets for body weight, daily weight gain and intake (kg/day) of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein or indigestible neutral detergent fiber. However, for neutral detergent fiber intake, the diet with complete substitution presented the best results. Cocerning digestibility coefficients of dry matter and nutrients (organic matter, crude protein and neutral detergent fiber) the diet with 100% replacement also presented the best results. For milk production, milk production efficiency and milk composition, no difference was observed between diets. For milk fatty acid profile, there were differences between diets for some fatty acids. Soybean hulls can be used replacing ground corn in diets for Saanen goats in the early lactation, because it improves the digestibility of the diet and nutrients, does not change productive performance or the milk physicalchemical quality and increases the content of n-3 fatty acids in milk.

Effect of different protein and energy levels in concentrate diets on nutrient intake and milk yield of Saanen x Etawah Grade goats

“…These results were similar to the result of previous researchers (Bava et al 2001;Goetsch et al 2001;Zambom et al 2012) showing that milk yield was not affected by different level of protein and energy intakes. Bava et al (2001) reported that milk yield was similar for silage-based control diet and non-forage diet (high CP content) of dairy goats.…”

“…Goetsch et al (2001) reported that milk yield in the first 12 weeks of subsequent lactation were not affected by dietary treatment of different level of energy and concentrate or parity of Alpine dairy goats. Zambom et al (2012) evaluated milk yield of Saanen goats fed diets with soybean hulls replacing ground corn (0, 50, and 100% replacement) in early lactation and the results showed that milk yield was not affected by three different However, the results of this trial were in contrary with those obtained by other researchers (Sahlu et al 1995;Park et al 2010;Souza et al 2014;Nascimento et al 2014), who found that the different levels of protein and energy affected the milk yield. Sahlu et al (1995) reported that milk yield in the subsequently lactation increased quadratically in response to pre-partum CP and TDN concentration.…”

“…Daily average milk yields of SAPERA in this trial were higher compared to milk yield of Etawah Grade goats (Supriyati et al 2016) and lower than milk yield of Saanen goats Zambom et al 2012). Supriyati et al (2016) reported that average daily milk yields of Etawah Grade goat fed with diets containing 12.6% CP and 70.1% TDN during 12 weeks of lactation was 0.678 kg/d.…”

“…However, Gomes et al (2014) reported that average daily milk yields of Saanen goats fed with diets based on soybean meal containing 23% CP during the first 60 days of lactation was 3.29 kg/d. Furthermore, Zambom et al (2012) reported that average daily milk yields of Saanen goats fed based on soybean hull containing 22% CP and 85% TDN during the 50 days of lactation was 3.64 kg/d. From the above results, it could be concluded that milk yield of SAPERA goats was in the middle range between Etawah Grade and Saanen goats.…”

“…From the above results showed that milk content is the most variable nutrient because of the differences between breed, feeding and their interaction. (Sahlu et al 1995;Park et al 2010;Zambom et al 2012). Sahlu et al (1995) reported that milk fat percentage increased linearly in response to increased pre-partum energy.…”