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Metabolisable energy requirements of lactating dairy cows offered a straw/concentrate ration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

R.M. Kirkland
Affiliation:
The Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co. Down BT26 6DR, U.K.
F.J. Gordon
Affiliation:
The Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co. Down BT26 6DR, U.K.
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Extract

Previous studies at this Institute (Yan et al., 1997), using regression techniques on calorimetric data obtained with dairy cows offered grass silage based diets, have indicated that the metabolisable energy (ME) requirement for maintenance (MEm) is higher than that predicted using the equations of AFRC (1990). It was hypothesised, (Yan et al., 1997), that this higher MEm may reflect the use of diets containing ensiled grass and, furthermore, that ratio of grass silage:concentrates also influences MEm. In contrast, kl calculated by regression techniques was in line with that predicted using the equations of AFRC (1990). Against this background, the objective of the current study was to establish, using regression techniques, the MEm and kl on a non-grass silage based ration.

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Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1999

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References

AFRC, 1990. Technical Committee on Responses to Nutrients, Report Number 5, Nutritive Requirements of Ruminant Animals, Energy. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews (series B) 60: 729804.Google Scholar
Gordon, F.J., Porter, M.G., Mayne, C.S. and Unsworth, E.F. and Kilpatrick, D.J. 1995. Effect of forage digestibility and type of concentrate on nutrient utilisation for lactating dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Research, 62: 1527.Google Scholar
Yan, T., Gordon, F.J., Agnew, R.E., Porter, M.G. and Patterson, D.C. 1997. The metabolisable energy requirement for maintenance and the efficiency of utilisation of metabolisable energy for lactation by dairy cows offered grass silage-based diets. Livestock Production Science, 51: 141150.Google Scholar