Improvement of Milk Yield by Using Palm Kernel Cake and Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles Mixed in Concentrate Feed | Upaya Peningkatan Produksi Susu Sapi Perah dengan Pencampuran Bungkil Inti Sawit dan Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles dalam Konsentrat

National milk yield can not supply the national milk consumption. One alternative to improve national milk yield is by increasing the dairy cattle productivity through better feeding management. West Java is one of the centers of development of dairy cattle for milk yield. It provides about 34.81% of the national milk yield. The largest population of dairy cattle in West Java is in Lembang. The average milk yield in Lembang is higher than the average national milk yield. To maintain high milk yield, addition of high quality feed such as concentrates is very important for dairy cattle. Palm kernel cake (PKC) is a by-product of the palm oil industry. As a local feed, it has a very high potential to be used as an alternative of energy and protein feed sources. Even though the price is low, there is still limited research that has been done concerning its effect on dairy cattle production. Using good quality of local feed for dairy cattle has two benefits, it decreases production costs while increasing farmer’s income as well as improving animal production. Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is a feedstuff that can be used as a protein and energy source. Distillers dried grains with solubles is imported feed but the price is lower than soybean meal. Concentrate feed mixed by PKC and DDGS, was expected to increase production and quality of milk of dairy cows in Lembang. An experiment was conducted to study the effect of concentrate mix by using PKC and DDGS on milk yield in Lembang, West Java. This experiment was expected to increase milk yield, to decrease feed costs and to increase dairy farmers income in Lembang. Twenty two lactating dairy cows devided into 4 groups: R0, R1, R2 and R3. Each group consisted of 5 and 6 lactating dairy cows with different lactating periods. R0 was fed by basal diet as control, R1 was fed by basal diet and 1kg DDGS, R2 was fed by basal diet and 2 kg PKC and 1kg DDGS, and R3 was fed by basal diet and 3 kg PKC. Parameters observed and measured were physiological status, feed intake and milk yield. Physiological status including rectal temperature, respiration rate and heart rate were measured every week; feed intake was measured every day by calculating the difference in feed given; consumption of dry matter; chest circumference (cm) measured using a measuring tape taken before, during and after the experiment and converted into body weight (kg); daily milk yield recorded daily in the morning at 04.00 to 06.00 am and 03.00 to 05.00 pm; milk quality was measured every two weeks by taken 200 ml of milk sampled before, during and after the experiment; mastitis test was measured by IPB-1 reagent performed before, during and after the study. The study design used was Completely Randomized Design (CRD), which consisted of four treatments with five to six replications. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance General Linear Model. The differences among the results, were tested by Duncan test. vii The experiment showed that there was no significant effect of treatment (P>0.05) on physiological status, feed consumption, body weight, milk yield and milk quality. Physiological status of cows was still in the normal range. The experiment showed there were no significant effect of treatments (P<0.05) on milk yield and milk quality (included milk fat, solid non fat, milk protein and total solid). Total digestible nutrients (TDN) consumption of R1, R2 and R3 showed significant effect (P<0.05) compared to R0, R1 and R2 showed significant effect (P<0.05) on R3. Metabolized energy (ME) consumption and Net energy of Lactation (NEL) consumption of R1, R2 and R3 showed significant effect (P<0.05) compared to R0, R1 and R3 showed significant effect (P<0.05) on R2. Milk yield showed the same pattern to energy consumption. R2 had the highest milk yield, followed by R3, R1 and R0. R2 had the highest energy feed consumption, included TDN, ME and NEL, followed by R3, R1 and R0. The experiment showed that mixture of PKC and DDGS on concentrate feed increased milk yield during the experiment period. Concentrate feed costs on R3 needed per day were lower than concentrate feed costs on R1 or R2. Dairy farmers profit of each kg of milk on R3 was higher than R2, but milk yield on R2 was the highest. It was concluded that dairy farmers profit on R2 was the highest. PKC and DDGS mixed in concentrate feed has increased energy consumption greater than DDGS mixed in concentrate feed and PKC mixed in concentrate feed. Combination of PKC and DDGS mixed in concentrate feed, maintain milk yield’s peak during experiment periods and also also increased profits of dairy farmers in Lembang. Mixture of DDGS in concentrate feed resulted in the highest milk yield persistency. Mixture of PKC in concentrate feed decreased feed costs in every kg of milk. Dairy farmers are advised to use a combination of PKC and DDGS as a mixture in their concentrate feed.