Milk performance of dairy cows supplemented with a combination of slow-release nitrogen and exogenous fibrolytic enzyme

Abstract

The purpose of this on-farm trial was to evaluate the impact of supplementing slow-release nitrogen (SRN; min. 40% N) and exogenous fibrolytic enzyme (EFE; cellulase, xylanase, glucanase, mannanase and xylanase-potentiating factor) products on milk yield and composition in dairy cows. Twelve early-tomidlactating crossbred cows were divided into 2 groups with comparable milk production. Animals were fed on a total mixed ration comprising of green maize, wheat straw and concentrate mixture. Group T 1 was supplemented with urea at 80 g/animal/d, whereas that of T 2 received a novel combination of cellulopolymer-coated SRN at 80 g and EFE at 4 g/animal/d for a period of 20 days. Results showed no difference in milk yield (13.8 vs. 15.1 kg/d; P=0.559) between the groups; however, milk fat (3.49 vs. 3.87%) and solid not fat (7.92 vs. 8.35%) levels were higher (P0.05) in group T 2 than T 1 . Furthermore, on applying 2-axis milk payment system, group T 2 demonstrated a return on investment of 8.3:1. It was, therefore, concluded that supplementing a combination of SRN and EFE carries practical worth to enhance milk composition, thereby boosting economic gain in dairy farming under Indian context.

The impact of using slow-release urea instead of fast-release urea in feed on the milk production of Awassi sheep and some blood traits

“…Milk production after weaning lambs begins to decrease, but this decrease did not affect the 4th treatment containing Minogen in the feed composition, which played a role in increasing the percentage and quantity of milk protein resulting from increased efficiency of utilizing feed protein whose source is slow-release urea (Minogen). The results of this study differ from the results of studies conducted on cows [13,16,18], who pointed out that there were no significant differences in the percentage and quantity of total milk solids when increasing the level of slow-release urea in feed rations, while Hallajian et al [17] pointed out a significant increase in the percentage of total solids when increasing the level of slow-release urea in cow milk rations.…”

“…As mentioned in many studies, the percentage of milk lactose is rarely affected by ruminant nutrition. The results of this study are consistent with similar studies conducted on cows, [13,15,16,[18][19][20][21][22], and pointed out that there was no significant difference in milk lactose percentage when increasing the level of slow-release urea in feeds. As for the average total solid's percentage, Table (3) shows that there is a significant decrease (P<0.05) in the 2nd and 3 rd treatments compared to the 1 st and 4 th treatments, with values reaching (10.415, 10.043, 9.986 & 10.096%), respectively.…”

“…Perhaps the reason for this increase is due to its association with improved feed conversion factor and protein utilization efficiency in the 4th treatment, which is due to the slow decomposition of Minogen. Due to the scarcity of research on the use of slow-release urea in sheep, research on dairy cows was directed, which is not consistent with the current study as recorded by several authors [13,[15][16][17][18][19][20], indicated that there were no significant differences in milk quantity produced. As Table (3) shows, the 4th treatment significantly increased (P≥0.05) in milk fat percentage, surpassing the rest of the treatments as it reached (3.463, 3.366, 3.866 and 4.326%), respectively.…”

“…This result is consistent with the study by [19] on the significant increase in cow's milk protein percentage when increasing the level of slow-release urea in the feed. However, it did not agree with several studies [13,15,16,18,20,21] and who pointed out that there were no significant differences when increasing the level of slow-release urea in cow feeds. As for the average milk lactose percentage, Table (3) shows that there is no significant difference between the treatments in its percentage, as it reached (4.637, 4.525, 4.559, 4.540%), respectively.…”

“…Similar studies conducted in this field on cows pointed to results similar to this study. Some authors [16,17] observed a significant increase in cow's milk fat percentage when increasing the level of slow-release urea in their feeds, while it differed with the results of the study by many studies [13,15,[18][19][20][21][22], as they pointed out that there were no significant differences in cow's milk fat percentage when increasing the level of slow-release urea.…”