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Effect of feeding non-fibrous carbohydrate before grazing on intake and nitrogen utilization in dairy cows throughout the grazing season |
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| Authors: | Tomohiro MITANI Koichiro UEDA Tetsushiro ENDO Makoto TAKAHASHI Hiroki NAKATSUJI Seiji KONDO |
| Institution: | 1. Creative Research Institute
Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Kita, Sapporo;2. Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Kita, Sapporo Animal Research Center, Agricultural Research Department, Hokkaido Research Organization, Shintoku, Hokkaido;3. Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University, Kita, Sapporo, Japan;4. Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Kita, Sapporo |
| Abstract: | Ten lactating cows were used to determine the effect of feeding non-fibrous carbohydrate (NFC) supplement before grazing on feed intake and nitrogen (N) utilization throughout a grazing season. The experiment was conducted from June to September. Cows grazed twice a day (2.5 h × 2) under a set stocking system and were fed NFC supplement (1 kg/4 kg of milk yield) 2 h before grazing (PRE) or immediately after grazing (POST). Cows were also fed a grass and corn silage mixture ad libitum. Herbage dry matter intake (DMI) was greater for PRE than for POST throughout the experiment and decreased from June to September. Conversely, silage DMI was less for PRE than for POST throughout the experiment and increased over the grazing season. Consequently, total DMI for PRE did not differ from that for POST. Milk urea-N concentration and urinary urea-N excretion in June did not differ between the treatments, whereas that after July was higher for PRE than for POST. Proportion of urinary N excretion to absorbed N intake in June was lower for PRE than for POST, but that after July was higher for PRE than for POST. Feeding NFC supplement before grazing would improve N utilization when cows eat large amounts of herbage high in N. |
| Keywords: | dairy cow grazing nitrogen utilization timing of supplement |