Gwenaël FORGEARD (1), Lilian LELOUTRE (1)
(1) TECHNA FRANCE NUTRITION, 41 Route de St-Etienne-de-Montluc, BP10, 44220 COUËRON, France
INTRODUCTION
•For economic and organizational reasons, dairy farmers are looking for an increase in the productivity of their animals. The nutrient efficiency in the feeding of dairy cattle is enormous importance, especially with regard to cost-optimised feeding.
•Essential oils contain active ingredients that can modify the microbial activity of the rumen including the possibility of limiting the degradation of proteins and so increase the amount of protein available in the intestine (Macheboeuf and al., 2008; Forgeard et al., 2018). This property can be used to decrease the proportion of degraded protein in the rumen and so participate to balance protein in the diet and improve protein efficiency. This would also have a positive impact on the cost of the feed ration and lead to reduced nitrogen excretion into the environment.
OBJECTIVE
•To determine the effect of feeding Novatan to dairy cows on zootechnical performances.
MATERIALS & METHODS
•The trial takes place in a commercial farm (UK) during 2008 (8 weeks).
•The protocol was an OFF/ON/OFF, all the 160 dairy cows Prim’Holstein have been studied (170 DIM) .
•All the cows receive a complete diet (0,94 UFL, 17,8% CP, 117/102/52 PDI, 67% TD, 16% starch + sugar, 3% fat, 17,3% CF, 37,8% NDF) : 11,5kg grass silage, 6,6kg Dairy energetic feed (1UFL, 18% CP,25% starch+sugar), 1,7kg
Dairy energetic feed (0,94UFL, 36,5% CP,16% starch+sugar), 1,1kg molasses.
•The cows during the period ON receive 10g/head/day of NOVATAN in top-feeding.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
•No statistical analysis.