Stability of milk from dual purpose cows with different types of feeding

Abstract

Objective: to determinate stability of alcohol-proof milk in cows with different feeding strategy in tropical dairy system. Design/methodology/approach: Ten cows crosses Holstein x Zebu with high frequency to alcohol-positive milk were housed in individual pens and distributed into two groups. Experiment 1. T1: cows were fed dry Pangola (Digitaria eriantha) grass; T2: cows were fed green Maralfalfa (Pennisetum violaceum) grass. Forage was provided at libitum. Experiment 2. T1 cows were supplemented with a higher crude protein percentage and metabolizable energy concentrated than T2, this was gradually increased to 4 kg. Milk was subjected to alcohol test. Analysis of variance was performed under categorical data models. Results: Higher percentages of alcohol positive test cases were observed in cows fed with dry grass than those fed with green grass (P<0.05). Addition of concentrate to dry or green forage diets reduced the positive percentage cases. Implications: A balanced diet improves milk stability. Findings/conclusions: The improvement in the nutritional contribution of the cows decrease the percentage of alcohol-positive test.