Production and composition of milk by dairy cows fed common vetch or lupin grain as protein supplements to a silage and pasture-based diet in early lactation

Abstract

Milk production and composition were measured for 49 days in early lactation in 40 Holstein-Friesian cows fed 8 kg/day (fresh weight) of 1:1 mixtures of either rolled barley-lupin grain (Lupinus angustifolius L. cv. Gungurru) or barley-common vetch grain (Vicia sativa L. cv. Blanche Fleur). All cows were fed 1 kg/day of a pelleted concentrate containing minerals and vitamins, and wilted perennial ryegrass-subterranean clover pasture silage was available ad libitum with restricted grazing of perennial ryegrass-subterranean clover pasture. Cows ate all of the barley-lupin grain and barley-vetch grain mixtures. Mean daily dry matter intakes of silage (kg/cow.day) were 9.9 and 9.8 for cows fed the barley-lupin grain and barley-vetch grain mixtures respectively. Estimated pasture DM intake was 3.0 kg/cow.day. Mean daily yields of milk (L), fat (kg) and protein (kg) were significantly (P<0.001) greater for cows fed the barley-lupin grain mixture (30.3, 1.30 and 0.92 respectively) than for those fed the barley-vetch grain mixture (27.7, 1.23 and 0.87 respectively). Cows fed the barley-vetch grain mixture gained 0.2 kg/day more liveweight than those fed the barley-lupin grain mixture. Although both common vetch grain and lupin grain were readily eaten by dairy cows, when fed as protein supplements to a high quality silage and pasture-based diet in early lactation, cows fed the vetch grain produced less milk and milk components. This may be related to the greater partitioning of nutrients to liveweight gain rather than to toxicity problems in the cows fed vetch grain.

Effects of toasting blue lupins, soybeans or barley as supplement for high-yielding, organic dairy cows fed grass-clover silage ad libitum

“…Valentine and Bartsch (1996) found that milk, fat and protein yield were higher for cows fed barley/blue lupins than for those fed barley/ vetch. Froidmont and Bartiaux-Thill (2004) found that coarsely ground white lupins could efficiently replace soybean meal on an N basis in high-producing dairy cow feed without any loss of milk production.…”

Potential value of the common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) as an animal feedstuff: a review

“… Supporting literature: Hadjipanayiotou et al., ; Aguilera et al., ; Aletor et al., ; Valentine and Bartsch, ; Abreu and Bruno‐Soares, ; Darre et al., ; Allan et al., ; Hadjipanayiotou and Economides, ; Farran et al., ; Collins et al., , ; González and Andrés, ; Sharma and Kalia, ; Rotger et al., ; Mikić et al., ; Samarah and Ereifej, ; Budag and Bolat, ; Ramos‐Morales et al., ; Larbi et al., ; Uzun et al., ; Seifdavati et al., ; Mao et al., ; Rybiński et al., . …”

“…The gross energy (GE) content of common vetch seeds is 17.10–21.10 MJ/kg DM (Hadjipanayiotou et al., ; Abreu and Bruno‐Soares, ; Ramos‐Morales et al., ), while the metabolizable energy (ME) content is 8.67–12.50 MJ/kg DM (Valentine and Bartsch, ; Budag and Bolat, ).…”

Common Vetch: a drought tolerant, high protein neglected leguminous crop with potential as a sustainable food source

“…Compared with other legumes, common vetch exhibits high concentrations of crude protein between 93 24 to 32% (Francis et al, 2000) and carbohydrates and fiber are comparable to that of lupin (Valentine 94 and Bartsch, 1996). Common vetch seeds contain eighteen amino acids and the ratio of essential amino 95 acids/non-essential amino acids is about 0.7 (Mao et al, 2015) which is significantly higher than the 96 0.38 recommended by WHO (Who, 2007).…”

“…Obstructing the development of the higher value product is a range of anti-nutritional factors, the 104 most significant of which are the dipeptide γ-glutamyl-β-cyanoalanine (GBCA) and the free amino 105 acid β-cyano-L-alanine (BCA), that exist in relatively high concentrations in the seed at approximately 106 2.6% and 0.9%, respectively (Tate et al, 1999). Such compounds are toxic to monogastric species, 107 such as chickens or pigs, but have no obvious effect upon ruminant species, including beef cattle 108 (Valentine and Bartsch, 1996). In addition, vicine, convicine, and other anti-nutritional factors typical 109 of leguminous crops, including tannins, trypsin inhibitors and polyphenols are also present.…”