Effects of corn straw or mixed forage diet on rumen fermentation parameters of lactating cows using a wireless data logger |
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Authors: | Chunfu Qin Dengpan Bu Peng Sun Xiaowei Zhao Peihua Zhang Jiaqi Wang |
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Institution: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, CAAS‐ICRAF Joint Laboratory of Agroforestry and Sustainable Animal Husbandry, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China;2. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory for Genetic Improvement of Domestic Animal, College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, Hunan, China;3. State Key Lab of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China |
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Abstract: | The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of two different forage types on rumen fermentation parameters and profiles using a wireless data logger. Eight lactating cows were randomly assigned to one of two dietary treatments with a low forage diet with corn straw (CS) or a high forage diet with mixed forage (MF) as the forage source, respectively. Dietary physically effective neutral detergent fiber (peNDF) content was 11.3% greater in CS. Dry matter intake and milk fatty acid content decreased upon CS (P < 0.05). Ruminal pH, temperature and oxidation reduction potential (ORP) were monitored for 14 weeks. The CS group had significantly higher pH but lower temperature and ORP compared to MF (P < 0.01). With the CS diet regime, pH at the time before morning feeding, rumination and post‐ingestion were significantly higher than those in the MF group (P < 0.05). However, times with the ruminal pH below 6.0 and 5.8 were significantly reduced (P < 0.05), whereas ruminal pH below 5.6 tended to be lower (P = 0.07). The results indicated that rumen fermentation parameters were affected by forage types and dietary peNDF content might be predominant in ruminal pH regulation. |
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Keywords: | dairy cow forage type rumen fermentation parameter wireless data logger |
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