1. Effects of limit‐feeding diets with different forage‐to‐concentrate ratios on nutrient intake, rumination, ruminal fermentation, digestibility, blood parameters and growth in Holstein heifers.
- Author
-
Zhang, Jun, Shi, Haitao, Wang, Yajing, Li, Shengli, Zhang, Hongtao, Cao, Zhijun, and Yang, Kailun
- Subjects
RUMINATION (Digestion) ,FORAGE ,HOLSTEIN-Friesian cattle ,RUMEN fermentation ,DRY matter in animal nutrition ,CATTLE feeding & feeds - Abstract
Abstract: The objective of this study was using a wide range of dietary concentrate levels to investigate the major effects of limit‐feeding on heifers. Twenty‐four Holstein heifers were blocked into six groups and fed with one of four diets containing different levels of concentrate (20%, 40%, 60% and 80% on a dry matter (DM) basis) but with same intakes of metabolizable energy for 28 days. Increasing levels of dietary concentrate caused decreased (
P ≤P <3 ‐N, propionate and butyrate, and digestibility of DM and crude protein. Dietary concentrate levels had no significant effect on most plasma concentrations and body measurements. The corrected average daily gain (CADG) and feed efficency (ADG/DMI, CFE) were linearly increased (P <- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF