This study was conducted to determine the effects of chestnut hydrolysable tannin (CHT) on intake, digestibility, rumen fermentation, milk yield and somatic cell count in crossbred dairy cows (>75% Holstein Friesian). Four crossbred dairy cows (467.6 ± 35.2 kg BW) were assigned to be supplemented with one of four levels of CHT according to a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Dietary treatments included the control (without CHT supplementation) and CHT treatments that consisted of supplementation with 3.15, 6.30 and 9.45 g CHT/day. Rice straw was given ad libitum. The results showed that increasing levels of CHT tended to quadratically decrease rice straw intake ( = 0.06). However, total dry matter intake (DMI) and other nutrients were not different ( > 0.05) among the dietary treatments. The apparent digestibility of DM, organic matter (OM) and crude protein (CP) in cows with CHT treatments were higher ( < 0.05) than those of control cows. Milk yield and milk composition were not different ( > 0.05) among treatments. Lactose yield tended to increase linearly ( = 0.09) as CHT supplementation increased. Ruminal pH and ammonia nitrogen (NH-N) were not different ( > 0.05), but total volatile fatty acids (VFAs) increased linearly ( < 0.05) as CHT levels increased. The somatic cell count (SCC) and somatic cell score (SCS) in the CHT treatments were different ( < 0.01) than those in the control treatment. In conclusion, it appears that CHT supplementation improved feed utilization and influenced SCC in crossbred dairy cows. Long-term research is needed to confirm the benefit of CHT supplementation.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10140988 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vetsci10040269 | DOI Listing |
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