scholarly journals Economic Threshold Analysis of Supplementing Dairy Cow Diets with Betaine and Fat during a Heat Challenge: A Pre- and Post-Experimental Comparison

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Claire D. Lewis ◽  
Leah C. Marett ◽  
Bill Malcolm ◽  
S. Richard O. Williams ◽  
Tori C. Milner ◽  
...  

Ex ante economic analysis can be used to establish the production threshold for a proposed experimental diet to be as profitable as the control treatment. This study reports (1) a pre-experimental economic analysis to estimate the milk production thresholds for an experiment where dietary supplements were fed to dairy cows experiencing a heat challenge, and (2) comparison of these thresholds to the milk production results of the subsequent animal experiment. The pre-experimental thresholds equated to a 1% increase in milk production for the betaine supplement, 9% increase for the fat supplement, and 11% increase for fat and betaine in combination, to achieve the same contribution to farm profit as the control diet. For the post-experimental comparison, previously modelled climate predictions were used to extrapolate the milk production results from the animal experiment over the annual hot-weather period for the dairying region in northern Victoria, Australia. Supplementing diets with fat or betaine had the potential to produce enough extra milk to exceed the production thresholds, making either supplement a profitable alternative to feeding the control diet during the hot-weather period. Feeding fat and betaine in combination failed to result in the extra milk required to justify the additional cost when compared to the control diet.

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 47441
Author(s):  
Joao Paulo De Farias Ramos ◽  
Wandrick Hauss de Sousa ◽  
Iara Tamires Rodrigues Cavalcante ◽  
Juliana Silva Oliveira ◽  
Edson Mauro Santos ◽  
...  

The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of multinutritional blocks (BMs) associated with the concentrate content in the diet of lactating goats and their effects on milk production and economic viability. Eight goats Parda Alpina, multiparas were distributed in two Latin squares (4x4). The experiment consisted of four treatments (0.971, 0.746, 0.521 and 0.296 kg concentrate day-1 per goat) and BMs ad libitum. It was evaluated the consumption, milk monitoring and the system was analyzed economically. If there was a significant effect of the concentrate, the control treatment was compared to the others using the Dunnett test and 5% regression analysis. When the concentrate contents were high in the diets, the total dry matter intake decreased linearly. However, there was an inverse behavior for the consumption of BMs. Milk production (PL kg day-1) was linear and positively related to the increase of concentrate levels in the diets. The PL was lower for the decreasing levels of concentrate when compared to the control diet. The economic parameters indicate that the use of low concentrate levels associated with BMs is the best feeding strategy for lactating goats. The multinutritional blocks can be used to feed lactating goats to partially replace the concentrate.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed E. Kholif ◽  
Ayman A. Hassan ◽  
Osama H. Matloup ◽  
Ghada M. El Ashry

AbstractThe present experiment evaluated the inclusion of chelated phytogenic feed additives mixture in the diet of lactating cows for the first 3 months of lactation. A week before calving, thirty multiparous Friesian cows were divided into three treatments in a complete randomized design and fed a basal diet without supplementation (Control treatment), or the control diet supplemented with chelated phytogenic additives at 3 g (PHY3 treatment), or at 6 g/cow/d (PHY6 treatment). Menthol, levomenthol, β-linaloolm, anethole, hexadecanoic acid and pmenthane were the principal compounds identified in the additives mixture. Milk production, total solid, protein, fat, and lactose were increased with PHY3, but decreased by PHY6 (P<0.01). Whereas the PHY3 treatment increased (P<0.05) milk contents of Ca and Zn, PHY3 and PHY6 treatments increased (P<0.05) milk Fe and Mn concentrations. Though the PHY3 treatment increased (P<0.05) nutrient digestibility, the PHY6 treatment decreased (P<0.05) the digestibility of organic matter, crude protein and neutral detergent fiber. The PHY3 treatment increased (P<0.05) ruminal volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration and proportional acetate and propionate and decreased butyrate, while the PHY6 treatment decreased ruminal VFA concentration and proportional acetate. The PHY3 treatment increased (P<0.05) serum total protein, glucose, total antioxidant capacity, and the concentrations of Ca and Zn. Both PHY3 and PHY6 treatment decreased (P<0.05) the concentrations of serum triglycerides, and cholesterol. Daily inclusion of 3 g/cow of chelated feed additives mixture in diet of lactating cows improved milk production and ruminal fermentation, but additives dose of 6 g/cow/d had negative impact on cows’ performance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (8) ◽  
pp. 1531 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. K. M. Ho ◽  
W. J. Wales ◽  
M. J. Auldist ◽  
B. Malcolm

Recent research in Australia has measured the marginal milk production responses of cows grazing perennial-based pastures to supplements offered as a partial mixed ration (PMR). In the present study, the milk responses to PMR feeding developed under a restricted pasture allowance were used to examine the contribution to farm profit of decisions about short-term feeding (weekly, monthly). A short-term, or tactical, decision was considered to be one where the infrastructure and equipment needed to mix and feed out a formulated ration were already available. The decision was, therefore, the choice of whether to feed supplements as grain in the dairy at milking and forage in the paddock, or to feed the supplements as a mixed ration on a feed pad. Both of these options were assumed to exist for the farmer decision-maker, with the comparison of rations being based solely on the costs of supplement and milk income. The Control diet in the experiments comprised cereal grain fed in the dairy and pasture silage fed in the paddock, simulating a situation where pasture available for grazing was limiting. The PMR diet consisted of cereal grain, maize grain, maize silage and lucerne hay combined in a mixer wagon and fed on a feed pad. The PMR + canola diet was similar to the PMR diet, but included canola meal. The profitability of the diets for different amounts of supplement intake was compared by estimating the total income from milk produced minus the cost of the supplements. The results indicated that feeding the diet comprising PMR plus canola meal in early lactation contributed more to farm profit than did the Control diet of feeding grain in the dairy and forage in the paddock, or PMR feeding without canola meal, because of higher milk production. At a supplement intake of 12 kg DM/cow.day, the PMR + canola diet added AU$0.97/cow.day and AU$2.11/cow.day more to profit than the Control and PMR without canola meal diets, respectively. For a farm already equipped with a feed pad and mixer wagon, the benefits of feeding a mixed ration exceed the costs in early lactation. In late lactation, each diet made similar contributions to farm profit because of similar milk production.


Author(s):  
Ewa Ziółkowska ◽  
Joanna Bogucka ◽  
Jan Mazurkiewicz ◽  
Mateusz Rawski ◽  
Szymon Różański ◽  
...  

AbstractCommon carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) is a dominant fish species in aquaculture, and as it is a stomachless species, absorption and digestion of nutrients take place in the intestine. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of a prebiotic on the content of selected minerals found in the meat, gills, and skeleton of common carp. The research applied trans-galactooligosaccharide (GOS) prebiotic produced by enzymatic transgalactosylation of milk lactose by whole cells of Bifidobacterium bifidum. The following diets have been applied: control diet without feed additives (C), diet 2 (B1) with 1% of GOS, and diet 3 (B2) with 2% of GOS. In the freeze-dried samples, concentrations of the analyzed metals were determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The content of phosphorus was determined using colorimetric method. The analyses confirmed that the highest level of Mg was detected in the skeleton of fish fed with 1% GOS (2.51 g kg−1) and was significantly higher compared the control treatment (2.11 g kg−1) (P < 0.05). Zn content in fish meat fed with 1% GOS (35.41 mg kg−1) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than in the control group (24.59 mg kg−1). The tissue that accumulated the greatest amount of Zn was the gills. GOS had a positive effect on Fe accumulation in the meat, gills, and skeleton. It has been concluded that supplementation of feed with 2% GOS significantly influenced the positive correlations between Mg and P in the meat and skeleton, Fe–Ca correlation in gills, and Fe–Zn correlation in the skeleton.


Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1087
Author(s):  
Muhammad Israr ◽  
Naila Chand ◽  
Rifat Ullah Khan ◽  
Ibrahim A. Alhidary ◽  
Mutassim M. Abdelrahman ◽  
...  

A total of 300 day old broiler chicks (Hubbard) were assigned to 30 floor pens (10 birds per pen) under cyclic heat stress. Three diets including a control, as well as two levels of grape seed powder (GSP) and zinc (OZ) at the rates of 2.5 g/kg GSP + 50 mg/kg OZ and 5 g/kg GSP + 50 mg/kg OZ, were supplied to the broilers for 35 days. According to the results, broiler feed intake improved (p < 0.05) in GSP + OZ groups from 3–5 weeks and on an overall basis compared to the control diet. Body weight increased (p < 0.05) in GSP-5 + OZ-50 during weeks 2–5 and on an overall basis. The findings indicated that feed conversion ratio (FCR) decreased (p < 0.05) during week 5 in broilers supplemented with GSP-5 + OZ-50. The antibody titer (HI) against Newcastle disease (ND) was higher (p < 0.05) in GSP + OZ groups compared to control treatment. The value of malondialdehyde (MDA) decreased (p < 0.05) under GSP + OZ diets compared to control. Moreover, paraoxonase (PON1) was higher (p < 0.05) in GSP + OZ groups compared to untreated broilers. In conclusion, GSP + OZ positively supported growth traits, reduced MDA, and augmented PON1 and HI titer against ND in broilers exposed to heat stress.


2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 384-385
Author(s):  
Oliver Fast Hinz ◽  
Pablo Chilibroste ◽  
Gabriel Menegazzi ◽  
Matías Oborsky ◽  
Pablo Soca ◽  
...  

Abstract An experiment was performed to study the effect of two contrasting defoliation intensities of a fescue based pasture on milk production of 24 mid lactating multiparous cows. The animals were blocked according to parity, body weight (587 ± 42 kg), body condition score (2.77 ± 0.16) and calving date, and were randomly allocated to one of these two treatments: lax treatment (TL) 12 cm and control treatment (TC) 6 cm, with four replications. It was used a second-year pasture of Festuca arundinacea and Lotus corniculatus (2530 ± 180 kgDM/ha), divided into eight plots of 0.3 ha. Each plot was grazed by three cows during as many days as necessary until the defoliation height of each treatment was achieved. This would be determined by daily measures of the pasture height. Animals had one grazing session from 8:00 to 16:00 h. Both treatments received 7.5 kgDM of supplementation (17% Crude Protein; 2.81 Mcal/kgDM) in individual troughs. The cows were milked twice a day (05:00 and 17:00 h). Milk production was registered daily while milk composition was measured at the beginning and at the end of the experiment (samples from two consecutive milking). For milk yield results, a mixed model was used (Glimmix procedure, SAS 9.2, 2010) to analyse with treatment, day and their interaction as fixed effects and block as a random effect. While milk composition was analysed with only treatment as fixed effect. Milk yield was greater for TL than TC, while there was no difference in milk composition between treatments (Table 1). There is a significant effect of the day and an interaction between treatment and day (Figure 1), as difference was greater for TL to the end of the grazing period. This leads to the conclusion that it is possible to improve the milk production through less defoliation intensity.


2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (No. 7) ◽  
pp. 276-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.J. Guo ◽  
J.Q. Wang ◽  
D.P. Bu ◽  
K.L. Liu ◽  
J.P. Wang ◽  
...  

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of virginiamycin (VM ) supplementation on ruminal fermentation and microbial populations in steers. Four ruminally cannulated Chinese Luxi steers (BW 559.4 &plusmn; 30.1 kg) were used in a crossover design experiment with an experimental period of 28 days. The forage to concentrate ratio of the basal diet was 35:65 on dry matter basis. The experiment consisted of control treatment and treatment with control diet plus VM at a dose of 30 mg/kg concentrate (DM basis). Rumen fluid was collected at 07:30 prefeeding, at 11:30 and 17:30 postfeeding on day 27 and 28. A part of the pooled sample from rumen fluid was transferred to anaerobic culture by a roll-tube technique and analysed for species-specific real-time PCR quantification. The remaining pooled rumen fluid sample was analyzed for pH, VFA, ammonia N and l-lactic acid. The results showed that VM increased the ruminal pH (6.70 vs. 6.63; P &lt; 0.05), but it decreased ammonia nitrogen (4.94 vs. 6.19 mg/100 ml; P &lt; 0.01) and mean counts of amylolytic bacteria and proteolytic bacteria (P &lt; 0.01) as compared to the control. The additive VM did not affect the l-lactic acid concentration (1.39 vs. 1.26 mmol/l) in rumen fluid. Compared to the control, the steers receiving VM have altered a trend of quantification of Selenomonas ruminantium, Anaerovibrio lipolytica, Ruminococcus albus and Streptococcus bovis in rumen fluid (0.05&lt;p&lt;0.1) as compared to the control. However, VM had no significant effect on Lactobacillus spp. (P = 0.41), Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens (P = 0.35), on the genus Ruminococcus (P = 0.25), Ruminococcus flavefaciens (P = 0.52), Prevotella ruminicola (P = 0.54), on the genus Prevotella (P = 0.67) and Megasphaera elsdenii (P = 0.97). In this study, we found that VM had selective effects on ruminal bacteria and influenced ruminal fermentation by changing a part of the specific ruminal bacteria populations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (6Supl2) ◽  
pp. 3157
Author(s):  
Simone Pedro da Silva ◽  
Carina Ubirajara de Faria ◽  
Ana Caroline Rodrigues da Cunha ◽  
Aline Maria Soares Ferreira ◽  
Jean Marcos Castro Paula ◽  
...  

We aimed to evaluate the effects of using a concentrated ration containing industrialised human food on the productive parameters of Nellore heifers in confinement, in addition to comparing the dry matter intake (DMI) observed with that predicted by the nutritional systems BR-Corte and NRC, in order to determine which system makes the most accurate predictions for heifers of the breed Nelore in feedlots. Twenty-four Nelore heifers, with an average age of 24 months and average body weight (BW) of 350 kg, were used over the 70 days of the experiment. They were randomly assigned to two treatments and housed in partially covered stalls equipped with an automatic Growsafe® Systems feeding system. Animals in the control group (CONT) received a concentrated ration containing ground corn, soybean meal, urea, and mineral nucleus. In the residual treatment (RES) group, heifers received concentrated feed containing products from the human diet. The difference between the treatments was the concentrated ration; in the control treatment, the energy source used was maize, whereas in the residue treatment, the energy sources were corn chips, coconut candies, and ground coffee. Corn silage was included as forage for both treatments. The forage:concentrate (F:C) ratio was 84:16. The predicted intake was estimated according to the nutritional systems NRC (2000, 2016) and BR-Corte (VALADARES FILHO et al., 2010, 2016). The average DMI observed of the heifers was 7.46 kg day-1. Heifers fed with human feed residue had a higher dry matter intake (DMI) and higher ether extract intake (EEI) than animals fed with the control feed. In addition, heifers that received human feed products showed a lower average daily weight gain (DWG) of 1.08 kg day-1 than animals fed the control treatment with an average DWG of 1.24 kg day-1. The predicted dry matter intake by NRC 2000 was an overestimate by 9.78 % and by BR-Corte 2010 was an overestimate by 5.5 %. The NRC 2016 and BR-Corte 2016 underestimated the intake of heifers by 18.9 % and 7.1 %, respectively. It was concluded that growing Nelore heifers fed with human feed products, with a F:C ratio of 84:16, present a higher DMI and lower growth performance and feed efficiency than heifers fed the control diet. The DMI predicting models for Nellore heifers proposed by BR-Corte are more adequate than the NRC models.


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nirmal Kumar ◽  
K.S. Suhag ◽  
Pankaj Bishnoi ◽  
Shiv Kumar ◽  
Khyali Ram Chaudhary

Parasitology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 146 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Rashid ◽  
Muhammad Imran Rashid ◽  
Haroon Akbar ◽  
Liaquat Ahmad ◽  
Muhammad Adeel Hassan ◽  
...  

AbstractParasites reside inside or outside their hosts and get host nutrition and blood. Here, we have emphasized economic losses in cattle caused by parasitic diseases due to ecto- and endo- parasites (flies, ticks, mites and helminths). We have outlined different methods/models including economic evaluation techniques and dynamic analysis as a major class, used for the calculation of economic losses caused by parasites in cattle. According to already conducted studies, a decrease in production is mentioned in quantity and percentage while financial losses are expressed in the form of account with respect to per head, herd or for the specific study area. The parasites cause the reduced production and financial losses due to control, treatment and mortality costs. We calculated the average decrease in milk production and organ condemnation as 1.16 L animal−1 day−1 and 12.95%, respectively, from overall cattle parasitic infections. Moreover, the average calculated financial and percentage losses were US$ 50.67 animal−1 year−1 and 17.94%, respectively. Economically important parasitic diseases mentioned here are caused by specific spp. of protozoans and helminths according to data collected from the literature. Protozoan diseases include tick-borne diseases, coccidiosis, neosporosis, trypanosomiasis and cryptosporidiosis. Losses due to tick-borne infections were encountered for decreased milk production, mortality, treatment and control. Losses from coccidiosis were due to decreased weight gain, treatment costs and mortality. While abortion losses were encountered in neosporosis. Trypanosomiasis caused losses due to a decrease in milk yield. Moreover, only diagnostic (conventional or molecular techniques) cost was taken into account for cryptosporidiosis. Economically important nematode parasites are Oesophagostomum spp., Cooperia spp., Trichostrongylus spp., Strongyloides spp., Ostertagia spp. and Haemonchus placei. Due to the zoonotic importance of echinococcosis, Echinococcus granulosus is the most economically important cestode parasite. Losses caused by echinococcosis were due to organ condemnation, carcass weight loss and decreases hide value, milk production and fecundity. While, fascioliasis is one of the most economically important trematodal disease, which causes cirrhosis of the liver due to parasite migration, and thus, the organ becomes inedible. So, it would be helpful for farmers and researchers to approach these methods/models for calculation of parasitic losses and should adopt suitable measures to avoid long-term economic losses.


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