Production performance of lactating dairy cows at pasture fed concentrate supplemented with licuri oil

• Published in: Revista brasileira de zootecnia Vol. 40; no. 12; pp. 2852 - 2857
• Main Authors: Lima, Luciano dos Santos, Oliveira, Ronaldo Lopes, Bagaldo, Adriana Regina, Garcez Neto, Américo Fróes, Barbosa, Larissa Pires, Borja, Máikal Souza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Zootecnia 01.12.2011
• Subjects: AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE; licuri; lipids; milk; VETERINARY SCIENCES; milk; lipids; licuri
• ISSN: 1516-3598; 1806-9290; 1516-3598; 1806-9290
• DOI: 10.1590/S1516-35982011001200032

The objective of this study was to determine the optimal level of licuri oil to use in the concentrate of lactating dairy cows on pasture, through growth performance, feed conversion and cost of the supplementation. A total of 16 dairy cows, Holstein × Zebu crossbreed, were kept on Tanzania grass pasture. Cows were divided into four Latin squares, 4 × 4, formed by four experimental periods of 21 days, divided into 17 days for adaptation and four days for data collection. Cows received three kg of concentrate per day at the time of milking, and the treatments consisted of four diets containing licuri oil at levels of 0.0, 1.5, 3.0, and 4.5% of the concentrated dry matter. There was a linear increase in the daily milk yield, corrected to 3.5% fat, and an improvement in the feed conversion of the dry matter and neutral detergent fiber with the inclusion of the licuri oil. The optimal level of licuri oil was 1.5% of the concentrated DM for dairy cows on pasture, whose level has the best profit sale of milk, with positive results in the corrected daily milk production and conversion of the feed nutrients.