Effect on milk production and compositions of jersey cross cows fed with dried lucerne chaff as feed supplements in late autumn

Abstract

The study evaluated the effects of feeding dried Lucerne chaff as feed supplement on milk production and composition in Jersey cross cows grazing temperate pasture. The feeding experiment was conducted in late autumn in the month of October 2019 at the Brown Swiss Farm, Bumthang. Ten lactating Jersey cross cows weighing 329.80 ± 45.06 kg live body weight were divided into two groups of five each based on milk yield and stage of lactation as control and experimental group. The animals in control group were allowed to graze in open pasture for seven hours daily and were supplemented with cattle concentrate @ 1.5 kg per day. The cows in the experimental group were fed with dried Lucerne chaff @ 30 % (2.32 ± 0.34 kg) of the total DM requirement in addition to normal feeding regime as control group. The daily milk yield was recorded for ten days after two weeks of feed adaption period. Milk samples were collected from all experiment animals and analyzed weekly for the major nutrient composition. The daily milk yield from the experimental group was observed significantly (p ˂ 0.05) higher than the control group. There was no significance (p ˃ 0.05) difference in milk composition between the two groups. The findings from current study reveal that the dried Lucerne chaff can be used as a legume-based protein source for feeding dairy cows during fodder deficit period.