Sasan ghamari; Farhang Fatehi; Kamran Rezayazdi
Volume 25, Issue 2 , July 2023, , Pages 145-154
Abstract
Introduction: The production of dairy goat breeds such as Saanen has become widespread in many countries and factors like the nutritional value of goat milk, high amounts of milk yield compared to body weight, and less methane gas production have played important role for the mentioned development. Previous ...
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Introduction: The production of dairy goat breeds such as Saanen has become widespread in many countries and factors like the nutritional value of goat milk, high amounts of milk yield compared to body weight, and less methane gas production have played important role for the mentioned development. Previous studies have shown that reaching the insemination weight (35 kg) of replacement female goats is one of the most important points in the breeding of the dairy goat breeds. Subsequently, other studies have shown that improving growth and weight gain during suckling period reduces the time to reach the required weight and body size for insemination, the growth of mammary glands and increases milk production, and it is economically important. Protein is one of the factors which play important role in growth and body frame development of goats especially at life's early stages. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of different levels of crude protein in milk replacer on performance of Saanen suckling kids.
Material and Methods: Sixteen Saanen female kids with 10 days of age and 4.678± 0.57 kg of BW were randomly assigned to two experimental treatments, including milk replacer with 22% crude protein (22CP; milk replacer contain 22% crude protein) and milk replacer with 28% crude protein (28CP; milk replacer contain 22% crude protein plus 10 gram of whey protein concentrate per liter of milk replacer). The experimental kids were weaned at 64 days of age and during this time milk replacer, starter, and alfalfa hay intake of kids was recorded daily, and the weight of the goats was measured weekly.
Results and Discussion: The results showed that average daily weight gain of kids fed with 28CP treatment was significantly higher (P < 0.05) compared to the 22CP treatment during the first month, the second month and whole experimental period. Also, the kids body weight at the end of second month for 28CP treatment was significantly higher (P = 0.05) compared to the 22CP treatment (16.14 vs. 14.21 kg). The amount of total dry matter intake (DMI) during the entire experimental period was higher (P < 0.05) for the 28CP treatment compared to the 22CP treatment (509.65 vs. 459.68 grams per day). There were no significant differences among the experimental treatments for the feed conversion ratio (FCR) during the first month, the second month and the entire experimental period. In fact, although the 28 CP treatment had a higher daily weight gain compared to the CP22 treatment, due to higher DMI, but it had a similar FCR compared to the CP22 treatment.
Conclusion: Results showed that feeding milk replacer containing high levels of crude protein (28%) can results to the higher average daily gain and subsequently heavier weaning weight in Saanen goat kids.
Somayeh Jalalinia; Farhang Fatehi; Mehdi Dehghan banadaky; Hossein Rokhforoz
Volume 24, Issue 1 , April 2022, , Pages 23-33
Abstract
To investigate the interaction effects between season and dietary forage particle size on milk yield and composition, one hundred early lactating Holstein were allocated. Dietary forage particle size included long (7.7 mm) and fine (4.4 mm), were adjusted as an experimental treatment per season. The ...
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To investigate the interaction effects between season and dietary forage particle size on milk yield and composition, one hundred early lactating Holstein were allocated. Dietary forage particle size included long (7.7 mm) and fine (4.4 mm), were adjusted as an experimental treatment per season. The results showed that raw milk yield, protein, lactose and total solid percentage of milk were higher within spring compared to summer (p< 0.01). Milk yield and milk lactose percentage for cows fed fine forage particle size trended to be higher than cows fed long forage particle size. Also, the amount of dry matter consumed within two hours after feeding for summer was higher than spring. Totally results revealed that cows fed with fine forage particle size had more homogeneous feeding behavior pattern within both studied season than cows fed long forage particle size.
Amin Rahimi; Farhang Fatehi; Abolfazl Zali
Volume 23, Issue 3 , September 2021, , Pages 375-385
Abstract
The current study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementing of condensed molasses soluble (Vinasse) in heat stressed mid-lactating Holstein cows on milk yield and composition, apparent nutrient digestibility and economical parameters. The experiment was performed by 84 Holstein ...
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The current study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementing of condensed molasses soluble (Vinasse) in heat stressed mid-lactating Holstein cows on milk yield and composition, apparent nutrient digestibility and economical parameters. The experiment was performed by 84 Holstein lactating dairy cows (DIM: 155±25; MY: 32±3) in a completely randomized design with three treatments 1) basal diet without vinous (control), 2) diet containing 5% of vinasse (2.2 kg/head/day) and 3) diet containing 10% 0f vinasse (4.4 kg/head/day). The study was conducted in the summer season with a temperature -humidity index of 75.1. The experiment lasted for 25 days (15 days for adaptation and 10 days for sampling). Dry matter intake of the treatment fed a 10% vinasse supplemented diet was higher than the other treatments (P<0.05). Dry matter and NDF digestibility coefficients were increased by increasing the level of vinasse in the diets, compared to the control (P<0.05). The economical index of income over feed cost was the highest for the diet containing 5% of vinasse. Totally, regarding to the chemical composition of the vinasse and its beneficial impacts on the performance of the cows under heat stress, using 5% of dry matter vinasse supplementation (2.2 kg wet weight/day or 1.1 kg dry matter/day) can improve nutrient digestibility and reduce feed costs without any adverse effects on dry matter intake.
Ayub Mohammadi; Farhang Fatehi; Abolfazl Zali; Mehdi ganjkhanlou; Amirhossein Sarzaem
Volume 22, Issue 2 , June 2020, , Pages 259-269
Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of feed bunk space and forage particle size on feed intake and nutrient digestibility in growing Holstein female calves. Fourty Holstein female calves with an average age of 8-12 months (295.6 ± 32.8 kg) were used in a 2×2 factorial ...
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The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of feed bunk space and forage particle size on feed intake and nutrient digestibility in growing Holstein female calves. Fourty Holstein female calves with an average age of 8-12 months (295.6 ± 32.8 kg) were used in a 2×2 factorial change-over design (with four treatments, four periods and four stalls), in which 10 calves were allocated to each stall. The current experiment lasted 4 months as one month allocated to each period. The experimental treatments were included: 1) 24 cm of feed bunk space and average forage particle size of 4.6 mm (24/fine); 2) 24 cm of feed bunk space and average forage particle size of 7.1 mm (24/coarse); 3) 48 cm of feed bunk space and average forage particle size of 4.6 mm (48/fine); 4) 48 cm of feed bunk space and average forage particle size of 7.1 mm (48/coarse). The results of this study showed that the apparent digestibilities of DM, CP and NDF for the 48/Coarse treatment was the highest, the treatment of 24/Coarse had an intermediate state, and for the treatment of 48/fine and 24/fine were the lowest. Also, apparent digestibilities of DM, CP and NDF were higher for treatments including coarse forage particles than treatments with fine forage particle size. Finally, it seems that feeding growing Holstein heifers with diets containing coarse forage particle size could result in better nutrient digestibility.