Theme 19: Use of Supplements
Description
The study was carried out using 12 ha of Elephantgrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) pasture, fertilized with 660 kg/ha/year of 20.05.20 formula, during the rainy season of 1999. It was used eight cows per treatment/site in a completely randomized block design. Blocks were based on milk yield and date of calving. Pasture was managed with 30 days of resting period using a stocking rate of five cows/ha. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of feeding concentrate for the first 60 (T60) or 120 days (T120) post-partum on milk yield, in relation to the control-group (T0), fed no concentrate. Concentrate was fed at a rate of 1 kg per each 2 kg of milk above the basal level of 10 kg (rainy season) or 12 kg/cow/day (dry-season). It was planned to have half of the cows calving on the beginning of the dry season and half on the beginning of the rainy season. The study started in February in site one and in site two in March. Corn silage supplementation started on April 15 (site one) and May 14 (site two) and was halted on November 23 in both sites. After the afternoon milking, the cows had access to paddocks. The data were analyzed separately for the two seasons. There was no treatment effect on milk yield (P> 0.05) for any season and the average dry season milk yield was 12.2, 12.8, 13.3, for the T0, T60 and T120 treatments, respectively.
Included in
Effect of Concentrate Supplementation on Milk Yield of Crossbred Holstein X Zebu Cows Grazing Elephantgrass
The study was carried out using 12 ha of Elephantgrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) pasture, fertilized with 660 kg/ha/year of 20.05.20 formula, during the rainy season of 1999. It was used eight cows per treatment/site in a completely randomized block design. Blocks were based on milk yield and date of calving. Pasture was managed with 30 days of resting period using a stocking rate of five cows/ha. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of feeding concentrate for the first 60 (T60) or 120 days (T120) post-partum on milk yield, in relation to the control-group (T0), fed no concentrate. Concentrate was fed at a rate of 1 kg per each 2 kg of milk above the basal level of 10 kg (rainy season) or 12 kg/cow/day (dry-season). It was planned to have half of the cows calving on the beginning of the dry season and half on the beginning of the rainy season. The study started in February in site one and in site two in March. Corn silage supplementation started on April 15 (site one) and May 14 (site two) and was halted on November 23 in both sites. After the afternoon milking, the cows had access to paddocks. The data were analyzed separately for the two seasons. There was no treatment effect on milk yield (P> 0.05) for any season and the average dry season milk yield was 12.2, 12.8, 13.3, for the T0, T60 and T120 treatments, respectively.
