Production Performance and Milk Composition of Dairy Cows Fed Whole or Ground Flaxseed With or Without Monensin

Abstract

Eight multiparous Holstein cows averaging 570 +/- 43 kg of body weight and 60 +/- 20 d in milk were used in a double Latin square design with four 21-d experimental periods to determine the effects of feeding ground or whole flaxseed with or without monensin supplementation (0.02% on a dry matter basis) on milk production and composition, feed intake, digestion, blood composition, and fatty acid profile of milk. Intake of dry matter was similar among treatments. Cows fed whole flaxseed had higher digestibility of acid detergent fiber but lower digestibilities of crude protein and ether extract than those fed ground flaxseed; monensin had no effect on digestibility. Milk production tended to be greater for cows fed ground flaxseed (22.8 kg/d) compared with those fed whole flaxseed (21.4 kg/d). Processing of flax-seed had no effect on 4% fat-corrected milk yield and milk protein and lactose concentrations. Monensin supplementation had no effect on milk production but decreased 4% fat-corrected milk yield as a result of a decrease in milk fat concentration. Feeding ground compared with whole flaxseed decreased concentrations of 16:0, 17:0, and cis6-20:4 and increased those of cis6-18:2, cis9, trans11-18:2, and cis3-18:3 in milk fat. As a result, there was a decrease in concentrations of medium-chain and saturated fatty acids and a trend for higher concentrations of long-chain fatty acids in milk fat when feeding ground compared with whole flaxseed. Monensin supplementation increased concentrations of cis9 and trans11-18:2 and decreased concentrations of saturated fatty acids in milk fat. There was an interaction between flaxseed processing and monensin supplementation, with higher milk fat concentration of trans11-18:1 for cows fed ground flaxseed with monensin than for those fed the other diets. Flaxseed processing and monensin supplementation successfully modified the fatty acid composition of milk fat that might favor nutritional value for consumers.

Replacement of corn silage with cassava foliage silage in the diet of lactating dairy cows: milk composition and economic evaluation

“…Replacement The average concentration of N-urea in milk (N/dL) in the present experiment was 18.91 mg of N/dL, which was higher than that obtained by Broderick and Clayton (1997), who reported an average value of 14.8 mg of N/dL, ranging from 3 to 28 mg of N/dL, but close to those obtanied by Da Silva et al (2007), i.e. 17 to 18.5 mg of N/dL.…”

Unprocessed whole flaxseed is as effective as dry-rolled flaxseed at increasing α-linolenic acid concentration in milk of dairy cows

“…Micronizing flaxseed reduced protein degradability of flaxseed in the rumen (Mustafa et al, 2002;Gonthier et al, 2004), but failed to increase milk ALA concentration compared to cows fed ground raw flaxseed (Gonthier et al, 2005). However, da Silva et al (2007) showed that cows fed ground flaxseed increased ALA concentration in milk compared with those fed whole flaxseed. Furthermore, Maddock et al (2006) reported that yearling beef heifers fed processed flaxseed (either by rolling or grinding) increased ALA concentration in longissium lumborum phospholipids or neutral lipids compared with those fed whole flaxseed.…”

“…These discrepancies might be due to the differences in passage rate of ALA or extent of microbial biohydrogenation in the rumen. The apparent total tract EE digestibility for cows fed whole flaxseed was 734 g kg − 1 for the study of da Silva et al (2007), whereas it was 486 g kg − 1 for the present study. The ALA in whole flaxseed treatment for the previous study might have been biohydrogenated in the rumen to a greater extent compared with that for the present study, reducing the absorption of ALA in the small intestine.…”

Interaction of sunflower oil with monensin on milk composition, milk fatty acid profile, digestion, and ruminal fermentation in dairy cows

“…Moreover, a combination of ground flaxseed and monensin resulted in higher milk fat concentration of trans11-18:1 than when feeding ground flaxseed without monensin or whole flaxseed with or without monensin (Da Silva et al, 2007). A greater oil release with ground rather than whole seed may explain the higher trans11-18:1 proportion in milk fat observed in the experiment of Da Silva et al (2007), thus suggesting that free oil may lead to similar trans11-18:1 proportion increases when supplemented with monensin. Indeed, monensin interacts with soybean oil to linearly increase concentration of total trans11-18:1 in milk fat (Alzahal et al, 2008).…”