Determine the appropriate time of adding supplemental fat to the diet of dairy cows during three time periods before, during and after calving to increase production and reproductive performance.
2013
Norouzi Ebdalabadi, Mohammad | Abazari, Meheran | Raisianzadeah, Mohammad | Mansouri, Hormooz | Sarhadi, Fatolla
The objective of this study was to determine the best time to start using fat supplement in diets of cows. Thirty-six multiparous cows were assigned randomly to 3 treatments of 13 heads through a completely randomized design. Feeding of cows was started by a high fat diet 21 days before calving and reminds on said diet until 42 days in milk (DIM) in treatment T1.In two other treatments, feeding was started by a high NFC diet and shifted to a high fat diet at either 1 (T2) or 21 (T3) DIM and remained on said diet until 42 DIM postpartum. Dry matter intake (DMI) was the lowest (P0.05) in T2 experimnetal group.Cows' body condition score (BCS) in T3 group was greater than in T2 group (P0.05). Milk production in T3 group was more than in T2 group, significantly and trend to be (P0.1) more than in T1 group. Milk protein and lactose content for cows in T3 experimental group trend to be more (P0.1) than in T2 group. The lowest energy balance was for cows in T2 group. In prepartum period, blood cholesterol, triglyceride, and NEFA concentrations for animals in T1 group were greater than in other groups. AST blood value of cows in T2 group was higher than in two other groups, in weeks 2 and 3 post calving (P0.05). Ovarian functions weresimilar in experimental groups. Overall, results showed that using a high NFC diet during transition period and then feeding a high fat diet had positive effect on DMI and BCS and improved productive performance of cows. Key words: Dairy cow; high fat diet; carbohydrate; energy balance; milk production; ovarian function
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