A new cactus variety for dairy cows in areas infested with Dactylopius opuntiae

Abstract

Spineless cactus is an important part of dairy cow diet in the semiarid Brazilia. Severe infestation of cochineal (Dactylopius opuntiae Cockerell) destroyed a vast area of the most common species of cactus planted in the region; Opuntia ficus-indica Mill. resistant varieties with superior agronomic performance were recently selected, but they still need to be tested with dairy cows. We evaluated the use of a resistant variety, ‘Orelha de Elefante Mexicana’ (OEM, Opuntia spp.), in dairy cow diet. We tested its effect on intake, nutrient digestibility, microbial protein, blood parameters and performance of lactating cows. Ten cows with an average milk yield of 20 kg/day were assigned to an experiment using a double 5 × 5 Latin square design. The experimental diets consisted of five replacement levels of Nopalea cochenillifera Salm Dyck cv. (‘Miúda’) by ‘OEM’ (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) on a dry-matter (DM) basis) and were formulated considering the ingredient composition. The roughage:concentrate ratio was 70:30 on a DM basis. The replacement of ‘Miúda’ by OEM did not change the intake (kg/day) of DM (18.0), organic matter (16.3), crude protein (CP, 2.8), total digestible nutrients (11.6), non-fibre carbohydrates (7.6) and neutral detergent fibre (5.7), or the apparent digestibility (g/kg) of DM (655), organic matter (694), CP (739) and non-fibre carbohydrates (950), whereas apparent digestibility of neutral detergent fibre increased linearly. Microbial protein production (1.5 g/day), microbial protein efficiency (129.2 g CP/kg total digestible nutrients), plasma urea nitrogen (21.4 mg/dL), nitrogen balance (123 g/day), feed efficiency (1.1), nitrogen efficiency (0.2), milk production (20.0 kg/day), fat-corrected milk production (20.1 kg/day) and milk composition were not influenced by the replacement. Therefore, we recommend the use of OEM in the diet of lactating cows with an average milk yield of 20 kg/day.

Miúda (Nopalea cochenillifera (L.) Salm-Dyck)—The Best Forage Cactus Genotype for Feeding Lactating Dairy Cows in Semiarid Regions

“…The compositions observed for the cactus genotypes are consistent with those presented in other studies performed with the genera Nopalea and Opuntia [24][25][26][27]. The indigestible DM and NDF values, such as those from elephant grass, sugarcane, and corn silage, are lower than those from forages [13].…”

Nutritional and performance viability of cactus Opuntia-based diets with different concentrate levels for Girolando lactating dairy cows

“…[5,7] also observed this effect. Nevertheless, in data presented by Monteiro et al [20], this effect was not observed. The difference lies in the pro portion of concentrate which was significantly higher (30%), thus there was a lesser proportion of cactus (39%).…”

Metabólitos secundários presentes na palma forrageira: benefícios e potencialidades

“…Em um estudo realizado com ovinos, Rezende et al (2020), observaram que a substituição de 80% da silagem de sorgo (com 35% de concentrado) aumentou substancialmente a ingestão de nutrientes, principalmente energia. De acordo com Monteiro et al (2018), a utilização da palma forrageira em uma dieta com taxa de volumoso concentrado de 70:30 atendeu os requerimentos nutricionais de vacas em lactação com rendimento médio de dessa cultura.…”