Effects of in-feed enzymes on milk production and components, reproduction, and health in dairy cows

Abstract

Our objectives were to characterize responses in the field to a mix of fibrolytic enzymes using large commercial dairy herds and sufficient study power to evaluate milk production and reproductive responses to an enzyme treatment started during the precalving period. We hypothesized that the use of the enzyme treatment would increase milk production when provided to dairy cows precalving and for approximately 200 d of lactation. The study was conducted on 7,507 cows, in 8 replicates and 16 pens, at 3 dairies in the United States. Eight pens were randomly allocated as control pens and received no enzyme, and another 8 pens received enzyme treatment at a dose of 750 mL/t of dry matter feed. Milk production and energy-corrected milk yield were increased with the enzyme treatment by 0.70 and 0.80 kg/d, respectively, across a 5-month period. Milk fat percentage was not significantly increased by enzyme treatment, but milk fat yield was significantly increased by 0.040 kg/d, compared with controls. Milk protein yield increased 0.010 kg/d with enzyme treatment despite a small reduction of 0.020 percentage units in milk protein percentage. We found no evidence of an increase in the ln somatic cell count for the enzymetreated cows. Body weight overall was not increased for enzyme-treated cows, but we did observe a numerical increase in dry matter intake (0.20 kg/head per day) for enzyme-treated cows. Most production responses to the enzyme treatment were influenced by dairy. Compared with controls, milk yield in enzyme-treated cows was significantly higher by 3.6 kg/d in dairy 2 and numerically higher by 0.60 and 0.20 kg/d in dairies 1 and 3, respectively. Reproduction, health, and risk of removal or death were not significantly influenced by treatment, apart from a reduced time to first breeding. Production responses to the enzyme treatment varied by dairy from substantial to minor increases, but varia-tion among dairies was not evident in differences in dry matter intake or in partitioning of body weight among enzyme-treated and control pens and cows. It appears likely that the increase in production reflected increased digestibility of feed; however, further work is needed to identify factors influencing the variation in production responses to enzymes.

Effects of an exogenous enzyme preparation extracted from a mixed culture of Aspergillus spp. on lactational performance, metabolism, and digestibility in primiparous and multiparous cows

“…To the best of our knowledge, the current study is the first to report a significant interaction between enzyme supplementation and parity on lactational performance of dairy cows (other than the milk true protein concentration effect reported by Golder et al, 2019). An earlier study that evaluated the effects of fibrolytic enzymes and parity on feeding behavior, salivation, and ruminal pH demonstrated that primiparous cows consume feed more slowly and tend to ingest smaller amounts of feed during a feeding event than multiparous cows (Bowman et al, 2003; production data were not reported in that study).…”

“…For instance, enzyme dose (Holtshausen et al, 2011) and forage-toconcentrate ratio (Arriola et al, 2011) did not interact with parity to affect the performance of dairy cows. Golder et al (2019), in contrast, observed an enzyme × parity effect on milk protein concentration but no interactions for other production variables. Van Soest (1994) described a strong positive relationship between BW and the capacity of gastrointestinal tract in herbivores, which could be observed by limited meal size and reduced rate of feed intake in primiparous compared with multiparous cows (Bowman et al, 2003).…”

Exogenous Enzymes as Zootechnical Additives in Animal Feed: A Review

“…In dairy cows, the digestibility of dry matter and milk production has increased in diets with 34% silage of barley treated with fibrolytic enzymes (mixture of cellulase and xylanase) from Trichoderma reesei [45]. Recently, Golder et al [48] characterized the response in the field of the application of fibrolytic enzymes in supplemented dairy cows before delivery and for 200 days from the start of lactation in three dairy farms in the United States; eight randomly assigned pens were controlled without enzyme administration and eight more pens received a dose of 750 mL/t of feed for five months. The results showed that milk production increased with the enzymatic treatment to 0.70-0.80 kg/day, this could be due to the higher digestibility of the feed.…”

Effect of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 during prepartum transition and lactation on production, reproduction, and health of lactating dairy cows

“…Samples of all new deliveries, harvests, or batches of feeds were taken at each farm, along with periodic TMR samples from dairy 4, stored at −20°C and later analyzed by wet chemistry or near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy at Dairy One Cooperative Inc. Forage Testing Laboratory (Ithaca, NY) according to wet chemistry AOAC International (1999) methods detailed in Golder et al (2019). The near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy equations were based on methods detailed by Bramley et al (2012), with the exception of NDF, which was determined as described by Van Soest et al (1991), using heat-stable amylase without sodium sulfite and the NFC equation that was NFC = 100 − (NDF + CP + crude fat + ash).…”