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A note on the use of kale as a replacement for cereal-based concentrates for milk production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

F. J. Gordon
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co. Down
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Summary

Twenty-four lactating cows were used in a 6-week randomized block experiment to assess the effect of replacing 2·4 kg of cereal-based concentrate dry matter by either 2·6 or 3·2 kg of kale dry matter for cows with ad libitum access to grass silage. Milk yield, milk composition and live-weight change were not affected by the inclusion of kale. Silage dry-matter intake was significantly lower on the kale treatments than with concentrate, being 8·51, 7·89 and 7·95 kg per day for the concentrate, low-kale and high-kale supplements respectively. Energy digestibilities were 68·1, 74·4 and 76·4% and nitrogen digestibilities 67·1, 74·9 and 78·8% for the three treatments respectively.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1976

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References

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