DOI - Mendel University Press

DOI identifiers

DOI: 10.11118/978-80-7509-994-5-0095

INFLUENCE OF MODIFICATION THE LENGTH OF STRAW PARTICLES IN TOTAL MIX RATION ON RUMINATION TIME, MILK YIELD, AND MILK COMPOSITION IN THE NUTRITION OF DAIRY COWS

MÁRIA KAPUSNIAKOVÁ1, MILAN ©IMKO1, MIROSLAV JURÁÈEK1, BRANISLAV GÁLIK1, MICHAL ROLINEC1, ONDREJ HANU©OVSKÝ1, ANDREJ DUCHOÒ1, MATÚ© D®IMA1, ELA TARI©KOVÁ1
1 Department of Nutrition and Genomics, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Trieda Andreja Hlinku 2, 949 76 Nitra, Slovakia

The aim of the experiment was to determine the effect of changing straw length on the behaviour of dairy cows, specifically on activity time (feed intake time, rumination time) or non-activity time (using BouMatic's RealTime Activity program), milk yield (using HerdMetrix program) and milk composition (using True test in 10-day intervals). The 4-week experiment was conducted in a group of high producing Holstein-Friesian dairy cows that were at the peak of their lactation (61-120 days in milk) and were divided into three groups (PLM1;PLM2;PLM3) where they were fed a total mix ration (TMR) with different straw lengths (TMR1;TMR2;TMR3). The group of cows at the peak of their lactation 1 (PLM1) (N=33) were fed TMR1, which consisted of straw particles with a length of 3±2 cm. PLM2 (N=29) was fed TMR2 (3±2 cm; 15±2 cm) and the PLM3 group (N=32) was fed TMR3 (15±2 cm). TOMAHAWK Straw mill 404M was used to achieve the desired straw length. The structure of the TMR was also evaluated 3× over the observation period (Penn State Particle Separator method), focusing on the behaviour and selection ability of the dairy cows. TMR structure assessment was performed during the given control periods 4 times/24 h (05:00;11:00;17:00;23:00). The most pronounced selection was observed for PLM3 (TMR3), where the proportion of large particles (+19mm) was as high as 32.92% at 23:00 h., which is 8% higher than the proportion of particles for TMR1 (PLM1) (p < 0.05). The results showed that increasing straw length led to an increase in total activity of dairy cows (p < 0.05, p-value = 0.000) while non-activity time decreased (p < 0.05). There was also a statistically significant increase in milk production (PLM3) with increasing straw length (TMR3), which was an increase of 3.34 kg milk compared to TMR1 (PLM1) (p < 0.05, p-value = 0.000). A statistically significant increase with increasing physical structure of TMR was also observed for fat and protein content of milk (p < 0.05). Based on the results, it was found that modification of straw length can lead to increased feeding efficiency and consequently higher milk production and quality.

Keywords: dairy cows, sorting, rumination time, milk yield, straw

pages: 95-114, online: 2024



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