Tithonia diversifolia as a Supplementary Feed for Dairy Cows

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of Tithonia diversifolia as a supplementary forage on dairy cow performance and methane production. Nine lactating Holstein × Zebu dairy cows (519 ± 53.3 kg of body weight and 66 ± 13.3 d in milk) were paired by milk yield (21.3 ± 2.34 kg/d) and body weight and randomly assigned to three dietary treatments in a Latin square design with 21-d experimental periods (14 d for diet adaptation and 7 d for measurements and sample collection). The dietary treatments included the control diet consisting of fresh sugar cane plus concentrate (44:56, % of diet DM), and two treatment diets containing different levels of fresh T. diversifolia (6.5 and 15.4%, DM basis) which partially replaced both sugarcane and concentrates. Methane production was measured using the sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) technique from d 16 to d 21 of each experimental period. Analysis of the gas samples was performed by gas chromatography. The inclusion of T. diversifolia at 15.4% DM had no effects on DM intake, milk production, nitrogen balance or methane production. There was no effect on the concentrations of total saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in milk fat (P ≥ 0.28), though individual milk fatty acids were affected. Serum concentrations of glucose, urea nitrogen (BUN), triglycerides, β-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA), and cholesterol were unaffected by the dietary treatments (P ≥ 0.13). There was a time (2 and 6 h post-feeding) and dietary treatment effect (P < 0.01) on the acetate to propionate ratio in the rumen. A denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of the archaeal community showed distinct clustering of the archaea populations for control and treatment diets. Taken together, our results indicate the potential of T. diversifolia as a supplementary forage for dairy cattle in the tropics.

Replacement of Soybean Meal With Soybean Cake Reduces Methane Emissions in Dairy Cows and an Assessment of a Face-Mask Technique for Methane Measurement

“…A commercial calorimetry kit (Sigma Diagnostics, St. Louis, MO) was used to analyze milk samples for urea-N. Milk FA composition was determined as described elsewhere (26). The Kjedahl method (AOAC, method 954.01) was used to determine fecal N content and total fecal production was estimated by the insoluble ash technique (27).…”

Feeding ruminants using Tithonia diversifolia as forage

“…An in vivo study was conducted at UFSJ to determine the effects of replacing sugarcane fresh and concentrate (DM basis) with T. Diversifolia fresh fed (0, 6.4, 15.3%) to lactating cross breed dairy cows. 7 The results found by the authors indicated that it is possible to replace sugarcane (20% DM basis) and concentrate (11.2% DM basis) in a total mixed ration diet fed to dairy cows without any change in total intake (18.7kg MS/day), milk yield (22.9kg/day) and composition. In addition, glucose, urea, triglycerides, cholesterol, non-esterified fatty acids and ß-hydroxybutyrate blood parameters were not negatively affected by the inclusion of T. Diversifolia.…”

Untitled

“…An in vivo study was conducted at UFSJ to determine the effects of replacing sugarcane fresh and concentrate (DM basis) with T. diversifolia fresh fed (0, 6.4, 15.3%) to lactating cross breed dairy cows [7]. The results found by the authors indicated that it is possible to replace sugarcane (20 % DM basis) and concentrate (11.2 % DM basis) in a total mixed ration diet fed to dairy cows without any change in total intake (18.7 kg MS/ day), milk yield (22.9 kg/day) and composition.…”

“…Although it has been used as a fodder for animal nutrition [4,7,8,14], there are several uses reported for T. diversifolia like insect repellent and negative effect against ants [15], allelopathic effect against other plants [16,17], source of nectar for bees [18] and sources of nutrients (N, P and K) for degraded soils as the biomass is quickly decomposed and consequently nutrients are easily released to the soil [2,19].…”