Study On Rumen Degradability Characteristics Of Baled Total Mixed Ration And Its Effect On Production Performance Of Dairy Cows

Small-scale farming is the main mode of feeding dairy cows in our country. Most of the small dairy cattle farms can not use total mixed ration (TMR) feeding technology to feed their cows owing to lack of financial, facilities and technical support. Baled TMR can be stored and delivered, and then make the small-scale individual farms also can use TMR technique to improve their production efficiency and income. The objective of this experiment was to study the rumen degradability characteristics of baled total mixed ration and its effect on production performance, blood indices, and apparent digestibility of lactation dairy cows.StudyⅠ: Two dairy cows have similar body weight and fitted with rumen cannulas were selected to study the effects of baled ensiling and moisture content on rumen degradibility characteristics of TMR using rumen nylon bag method. The concentration to forage ratio of TMR was 40:60. The results showed that baled ensiling increased dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), and organic matter (OM) rumen disappearance and effective degradability of baled TMR (P﹤0.05). Compared with 40% and 50% moisture groups, effective degradability of CP were higher (P﹤0.05) in 60% moisture, while no difference was observed between 40% and 50% moisture groups. It indicated that the baled ensiling could increase rumen disappearance and effective degradability of TMR nutrients. The effects of moisture content on rumen disappearance and effective degradability of TMR nutrients were no significant difference. StudyⅡ: The objective of this experiment was to study the effect of baled total mixed ration on performance and digestive characteristics of late lactation dairy cows. Twenty-four multiparous Holstein cows have similar milk yield (14.64±2.17 kg/d), fetal times (2-3) and day in milk (182±25 d) were used in a complete randomized design and divided into treatment and control groups, respectively. Animals were offered baled total mixed ration and forge and concentrate separately for treatment and control groups, respectively. The concentration to forage was 40:60. The results showed that milk production, 4% fat corrected milk (FCM) yields, feed efficiency, and lactose yields of experiment group was 16.07%, 13.61%, 15.73% and 15.79% higher than feeding forge and concentrate separately (P﹤0.05). Dry matter intake, percentage of composition in the milk and somatic cell count (SCC) were similar for two groups (P﹥0.05). Between two groups, blood indices was no significant difference (P﹥0.05) except blood glucose (P﹤0.05). Compared to the control group, the apparent digestibility of crude protein and fat were higher in the baled TMR treatment (P﹤0.05) while no difference was observed in that of other nutrients (P﹥0.05). This trial indicated, compared with the control group, that the baled total mixed ration increased milk performance and the nutrient apparent digestibility of dairy cows.It would be concluded from this study that rumen degradability characteristics of baled TMR was better than fresh TMR, while baled TMR was good at increasing production performance of dairy cows compared to separate feeding. So it would be considered to use the baled TMR to late lactation dairy cows as a new total mixed ration.