Effects of corn grain endosperm type and conservation method on feed intake, feeding behavior, and productive performance of lactating dairy cows

Our objective was to evaluate the effects of corn grain varying in endosperm type and conserved as high-moisture or dry ground corn on dry matter intake (DMI), feeding behavior, ruminal fermentation, and yields of milk and milk components of cows in early to mid-lactation. Seven ruminally and duodenally cannulated Holstein cows (73 ± 39 d in milk; mean ± SD) were used in a duplicated 4 × 4 Latin square design with 21-d periods. A 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments was used with main effects of corn grain endosperm type (floury or vitreous) conserved as high-moisture corn (HMC) or dry ground corn (DGC). Rations were formulated to contain 27.0% starch, 26.6% neutral detergent fiber (NDF), 19.1% forage NDF, and 16.5% crude protein. Corn grain treatments supplied 86.6% of dietary starch and contained alfalfa silage as the sole forage. Dry matter intake was increased 1.3 kg/d by DGC compared with HMC. The increase in DMI by DGC was related to a shorter intermeal interval (104.4 vs. 118.2 min/d), and meal size was not affected by treatment. Dry ground corn decreased rumination bout length and number of chews per bout compared with HMC. No differences were detected between endosperm treatments for DMI, yields of milk, 3.5% fat-corrected milk (FCM), milk fat, protein, lactose, or solids-not-fat (SNF). Mean yield of 3.5% FCM across treatments was 47.5 kg/d. However, a tendency for an interaction was observed for feed efficiency; floury endosperm increased efficiency 0.05 kg 3.5% FCM per kg of DMI for DGC but decreased it by 0.14 kg 3.5% FCM per kg of DMI for HMC relative to vitreous endosperm. Vitreous compared with floury corn tended to increase true protein concentration in milk when conserved as DGC (2.68% vs. 2.62%) but not as HMC. Concentration of SNF was increased by DGC compared with HMC (8.45 vs. 8.37%) due, in part, to the effect of treatment on milk protein concentration. Body weight was not affected by treatment, but vitreous endosperm tended to increase loss of body condition compared with floury endosperm. Corn endosperm type and conservation method had little effect on productive performance of high-producing cows.