The effects of legume seeds on the lactation performance of dairy cows fed grass silage-based diets

Abstract

The aim was to study if locally produced organic legume seeds as protein supplement could improve the performance of dairy cows. The experiment was a cyclic change over design were the control diet consisted of grass silage and barley (60:40) on a dry matter (DM) basis. Barley was replaced with rapeseed expeller (RSE), or isonitrogenous supplements of peas, untreated field beans (UFB), heat-treated FB (TFB) or a lower level of TFB (TFB-low) that provided the same dietary metabolizable protein concentrations as of UFB. None of the legume protein supplementations had effect on DM intake (DMI) neither on energy corrected milk yield compared to control. The RSE treatment increased milk (24.8 vs. 23.6 kg d ) compared to other protein supplements. Heat-treated FB had no effect on DMI, milk or protein yield compared to UFB. Only RSE resulted in improvements in dairy cows performance in relation to the control diet.

The effect of partial substitution of rapeseed meal and faba beans by Spirulina platensis microalgae on milk production, nitrogen utilization, and amino acid metabolism of lactating dairy cows

“…In contrast, the NDF concentration of FB was only half that of RSM, and only 2% of the NDF in FB was indigestible, whereas this value was 53% in RSM. These values are in good agreement with Ramin et al (2017). Similarly, the AA concentration with very low levels of methionine and moderate levels of histidine is typical for FB (Aguilera et al, 1992;Duc et al, 1999).…”

“…However, the protein value of FB may be impaired by their considerably high rumen degradability and low concentration of methionine (Aguilera et al, 1992;Duc et al, 1999;Luke, 2019), which is often the limiting AA for milk production (e.g., Pisulewski et al, 1996). Indeed, compared with rapeseed, FB have resulted in lower milk and protein yields in dairy cows (Puhakka et al, 2016;Ramin et al, 2017;Halmemies-Beauchet-Filleau et al, 2018). Previously, balancing the AA supply in metabolizable protein has increased milk and protein yields and improved the conversion of feed N into milk protein (N use efficiency, NUE; Haque et al, 2012), consequently leading to decreased N emissions to the environment.…”

Effect of extrusion on the chemical composition of the faba beans and its influence on lactation performance of dairy cows

“…Dairy cow feeding trial. In the current study, extrusion of faba beans affected neither dry matter intake (results not shown) nor milk yield (Table 6), these findings are in agreement with the results reported by Ramin et al (2017). No effect on lactation performance in the study could be also related to relatively small amount of faba beans in the diet compared to other studies.…”

“…As the feed efficiency is mainly driven by dry matter intake (DMI), no difference between the groups was expected. These results corroborate the findings of Ramin et al (2017) who reported no effect on feed efficiency (kg ECM kg -1 DMI) when feeding untreated or heat-treated field beans to dairy cows. In addition, similar findings by Cherif et al (2018) indicate feed efficiencies of 1.40 and 1.39 of cows fed either ground or rolled faba beans.…”

“…Previous studies have assessed the effect of replacing protein feeds such as rapeseed (Puhakka et al, 2016;Ramin et al, 2017) or soybean meal (Tufarelli et al, 2012;Cherif et al, 2018) with faba beans in dairy cow diets. Those studies indicate that the faba bean could be an alternative to other protein feeds without adverse effects on intake or milk yield of the dairy cow.…”