Dietary chitosan improves nitrogen use and feed conversion in diets for mid-lactation dairy cows

Abstract

Feed additives and fat sources have been used to meet high productive dairy cow energy requirements. This study aimed to evaluate dietary chitosan and soybean oil effects on mid-lactation dairy cow intake, digestibility, metabolism and productive performance. Twenty-four Holstein cows (134.7 ± 53.1 days in milk, 36.14 ± 5.32 kg/day of milk yield, and 581.2 ± 73.6 kg of body weight, Mean ± SD) were used in a replicated 4×4 Latin square design with 21-d periods, with 14 d of adaptation and 7 d for data collection. The treatment arrangement was a 2×2 factorial design with two levels of chitosan (0 and 4 g/kg of dietary dry matter-DM) and two levels of soybean oil (0 and 33 g/kg of dietary DM). Chitosan decreased intake only in diets without oil (P < 0.05). Regardless of fat addition, chitosan increased DM and CP digestibility (P < 0.05). Soybean oil and chitosan increased total serum cholesterol (P < 0.05). Chitosan diet had higher urea plasma concentration than control diet (CON) (P < 0.05). Over all, soybean oil increased propionate and decreased acetate ruminal molar proportion, and therefore decreased acetate:propionate ratio (P < 0.05). Chitosan decreased milk yield, nitrogen use and feed conversion efficiencies in oil-diets (P < 0.05). Soybean oil decreased short and medium milk fatty acids concentration (P < 0.05). Chitosan had no effect on long-chain milk fatty acids in diets with soybean oil (P > 0.05). However, in free oil-diets, chitosan increased milk polyunsaturated fatty acids concentration, nitrogen and energy efficiency. Chitosan addition in free-fat diets improved feed efficiency, increased milk unsaturated fatty acids concentration and association with soybean oil negatively affect animal performance.

Effects of chitosan and whole raw soybeans on ruminal fermentation and bacterial populations, and milk fatty acid profile in dairy cows

“…However, the DMI level (5.98 kg/d in average) and WRS dietary inclusion (16.3% diet DM), besides physiological state, make the comparisons between experiments not reliable. Our research group evaluated CHI provision to cows fed a diet with soybean oil and we found similar interaction effects observed in the current study, including decreased DMI and milk yield (Del Valle et al, 2017). Thus, the hypothesis that supplementing WRS instead of soybean oil could eliminate the negative effects of CHI and UFA supplementation on performance was not accepted.…”

“…Although CHI presented a similar negative effect of WRS on Butyrivibrio group population, it did not affect CP digestibility and ruminal NH 3 -N concentration, suggesting that B. fibrisolvens was not the major bacteria affected within the Butyrivibrio group. In addition, improvements in CP digestibility have been reported when feeding CHI to lactating cows (Paiva et al, 2016;Del Valle et al, 2017).…”

“…Goiri et al (2010a), Araújo et al (2015), and Paiva et al (2016) demonstrated the potential of CHI in decreasing the propionate to acetate ratio in ruminal fluid of sheep, beef steers, and lactating cows, respectively. Besides the effects on VFA production, evidence suggests that CHI decreases biohydrogenation in the rumen (Goiri et al, 2010b;Del Valle et al, 2017). Recently, Del reported that CHI improved the feed efficiency and increased milk UFA concentration of cows fed a soybean-oil-free diet.…”

Combining Crude Glycerin with Chitosan Can Manipulate In Vitro Ruminal Efficiency and Inhibit Methane Synthesis

“…Goiri et al [22] investigated the effects of supplementation at 0.36% BW of chitosan and reported no differences in OM and CP digestibility in sheep. Similarly, Del Valle et al [27] reported that the inclusion of 0.4% chitosan in the diet had no effect on digestibility coefficients. With the supplementation of chitosan in lactating cows at 0.4% with whole raw soybeans (WRS), nutrient digestibility was not affected [9], but Paiva et al [28] noted that chitosan provision up to 2.25% BW did not affect DM, DM, EE or NDF digestibility in lactating cows.…”

Brazilian red pepper fruit essential oil (Schinus terebinthifolius) may replace monensin in high concentrate diets for feedlot lambs

“…The adequacy of diets for the nutritional requirements of food-production animals and the use of feed additives that modify the ruminal environment are common methods used to increase energy retention (Perna et al, 2017) and protein utilization by ruminants (Del Valle et al, 2017). The most used feed additives in animal nutrition are ionophores antibiotics, non-ionophores antibiotics and probiotics (Nicodemo, 2001).…”