Feeding Frequency Effects in Early Lactation on Productive Efficiency of Holstein Cows

Document Type : Scientific - Research Articles

Authors

S.M. Karimzadeh

Hamid Amanlou ¹

A. Nikkhah

M.A. Sirjani

Gholam Reza Nouri ²

¹ Department of animal science. zanjan university. zanjan. Iran

² Department of Animal Science, Zanjan Faculty of Agriculture, Zanjan, Iran

10.22067/ijasr.v4i2.15138

Abstract

The present study was conducted in order to determine the effects of feeding frequency (FF) on dairy cow performance fed a total mixed ration (TMR) based on chopped alfalfa hay. Eight multiparous early lactation Holstein cows were housed in the individual boxes (4 × 3 m) and fed either once a day (1x) at 0700 h or 4 times a day (4x) at 0100, 0700, 1300 and 1900 h with TMR. The experiment was done as a 2 × 2 crossover design with two 20-d periods. When FF changed from 4x to 1x, dry matter intake (21.1 vs. 20.0 kg/d) and NEL intake (36.4 vs. 34.3 Mcal/d) increased (P

Keywords

Feeding frequency

Early lactation

behavior

Holstein

Chewing

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