Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wp2c8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-15T14:36:35.590Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The rate of intake of sweet, salty and bitter concentrates by dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

P. C. Chiy  and
C. J. C Phillips
P. C. Chiy*
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW
C. J. C Phillips*
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW
*
† Present address: Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0ES.
† Present address: Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0ES.
Get access

Abstract

Changes in the formulation and flavour of concentrate foods may temporarily reduce their acceptability to cattle, leading to reduced intake when they are offered for a limited time during milking. The rate of intake of 12 dairy cows offered 1 kg of salty or bitter concentrates was compared with a sweet concentrate, with or without an artificial sweetener to mask adverse flavours. The cows were offered the test concentrates twice a day in a Latin-square design with seven feeding occasions per period and the apparent and actual (excluding non-feeding time) food intake rates were recorded for all seven feeding occasions. Both apparent and actual intake rates were slower for the bitter compared with the salty and sweet flavoured concentrate.

For the first two feeding occasions the intake rate was recorded separately for the 1st min and the subsequent period until the end of feeding. The intake rate was faster in the 1st min because of more rapid prehension of the food and fewer interruptions to the feeding process. Where no mask was included there was no effect of flavour on the apparent intake rate in the 1st min of the first feeding occasion but in the 1st min of the second feeding occasion the apparent intake rate of the salty concentrate was less than that for the sweet or bitter concentrates. The actual intake rates of the bitter and salty concentrates were less than for the sweet concentrate. The mask increased the apparent intake rate of the bitter and sweet concentrates in the 1st min of both the first and second feeding occasions, by reducing the non-feeding time and it also increased the actual intake rate of salty concentrates.

After the 1st min the apparent intake rate of the salty concentrate was faster than that of the bitter and sweet concentrates, where no mask was included. The mask increased the apparent intake rate of the sweet concentrates at this time but reduced it for salty and bitter concentrates. It therefore reduced the acclimatization to the salty and bitter concentrates and enhanced the attractiveness of the sweet concentrates.

There was a residual effect from the previous period of concentrates which were eaten slowly i.e. salty concentrates, which reduced the 1st min intake of foods that were eaten rapidly, i.e. sweet concentrates, in the subsequent period. This was largely due to increases in the time spent pausing between bouts of food ingestion. After the 1st min the apparent intake rate of cows receiving salty concentrate for a second consecutive period was increased, suggesting acclimatization. The opposite effect was observed for the sweet concentrate, probably because the novelty of the sweetness had diminished, making it relatively less attractive to the cow. This experiment therefore provides evidence that bitter and to some extent salty concentrates are consumed at a slower rate than sweet concentrates, except for the 1st min in which they are offered to cattle and that a reduced concentrate intake rate may persist after the flavour is removed from the food. Cattle did, however, demonstrate an ability to acclimatize to salty concentrate over time.

Keywords

bitternessconcentratesdairy cowsflavour compoundssaltsweet tasting compounds
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 68 , Issue 4 , June 1999 , pp. 731 - 740
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anonymous. 1983. Rape seed or colza meal. Animal Nutrition and Vitamin News, article G2-5/1. Roche Products Ltd, Welwyn Garden City, UK.Google Scholar
Anonymous. 1986a. Cherko — dried coffee grounds. Animal Nutrition and Vitamin News, article G2-17. Roche Products Ltd, Welwyn Garden City, UK.Google Scholar
Anonymous. 1986b. Extracted cocoa bean meal. Animal Nutrition and Vitamin News, article G2-9. Roche Products Ltd, Welwyn Garden City, UK.Google Scholar
Anonymous. 1986c. Locust bean and carob seed meals. Animal Nutrition and Vitamin News, article G2-13. Roche Products Ltd, Welwyn Garden City, UK.Google Scholar
Anonymous. 1991. Illipe nut meal and shea nut meal. Animal Nutrition and Vitamin News, article G2-10. Roche Products Ltd, Welwyn Garden City, UK.Google Scholar
Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 1984. Official methods of analysis, 14th edition. AOAC, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bell, F. R. and Williams, H. H. 1959. Threshold values of salt taste in monozygotic twin calves. Nature, London 183: 345–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiy, P.C., Abdul-latif, A. A., Hassan, M. H. and Phillips, C. J. C. 1998. Effects of sodium and potassium fertilizers on the composition of herbage and its acceptability to dairy cows. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 76: 289–297.3.0.CO;2-L>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiy, P.C., Mohammed, M.O. and Phillips, C. J. C. 1996. The effects of sodium application to grass or concentrates on dry-matter digestibility in sheep. Animal Science 62: 688 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Chiy, P.C., and Phillips, C. J. C. 1991. The effects of sodium chloride application to pasture, or its direct supplementation, on dairy cow production and grazing preference. Grass and Forage Science 46: 325–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiy, P.C., Phillips, C. J. C. and Bello, M. R. 1993. Sodium fertilizer application to pasture. II. Effect on dairy cow production and behaviour. Grass and Forage Science 48: 203–212.Google Scholar
El Shaer, H. M., Omed, H. M., Chamberlain, A. G. and Axford, R. F. E. 1987. Use of faecal organisms from sheep for the in vitro determination of digestibility. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 109: 257–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erdman, R. A., Douglass, L. W., Hemken, R. W., Teh, T. H. and Mann, L. M. 1982. Effects of sodium bicarbonate on palatability and voluntary intake of concentrates fed lactating dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 65: 1647–1651.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forbes, J. M. 1995. Voluntary food intake and diet selection in farm animals,p. 532. CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon.Google Scholar
Frederick, G., Forbes, J. M. and Johnson, C. L. 1988. Masking the taste of rapeseed meal in dairy compound food. Animal Production 46: 518 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Hard-af-Segerstad, C. H. and Hellekant, G. 1989. The sweet taste in the calf. 2. Glossopharyngeal nerve responses to taste stimulation of the tongue. Physiology and Behavior 45: 1043–1047.Google Scholar
Hellekant, G., Segerstad, C., and Roberts, T. W. 1994. The sweet taste in the calf. 3. Behavioural responses to sweeteners. Physiology and Behavior 56: 555–562.Google Scholar
Higginbotham, J., Lindley, M. and Stephens, P. 1981. Flavour potentiating properties of talin sweetener (thaumatin). In Quality of foods and beverages, volume 1. Chemistry and technology (ed. Charalambous, G. and Inglett, G.), pp. 91–111. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higginbotham, J. D., Snodin, D. J., Eaton, K. K. and Daniel, J. W. 1983. Safety evaluations of thaumatin (talin protein). Food Chemistry and Toxicology 21: 815–823.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kroeze, J. H. A. 1990. The perception of complex taste stimuli. In Psychological basis of sensory evaluation (ed. McBride, R. L. and MacFie, H.J.H.), pp. 41–68. Elsevier, London.Google Scholar
Lawes Agricultural Trust. 1983. GENSTAT a general statistical program. Numerical Algorithms Group Limited.Google Scholar
McCutcheon, B. and Tennissen, A. M. 1989. Acid and NaCl self-adaptation with micro-drop stimulation of fungiform papillae. Physiology and Behavior 46: 613–618.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. 1990. UK tables of the nutritive value and chemical composition of feedingstuffs (ed. Givens, I.). Rowett Research Services, Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food/Agricultural Development and Advisory Service. 1986. The analysis of agricultural materials, 3rd edition. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
National Reseach Council. 1989. Nutritive requirements of dairy cows. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Nombekela, S. W., Murphy, M. R., Gonyou, H. W. and Marden, J. I. 1994. Dietary preferences in early lactation cows as affected by primary tastes and some common feed flavours. Journal of Dairy Science 77: 2393–2399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Omed, H., Axford, R. F. E., Chamberlain, A. G. C and Givens, D. I. 1989. Development of a method for the in vitro estimation of digestibility of forage in ruminants. In New techniques in cattle production (ed. Phillips, C.J.C.), p. 227. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
Phillips, C. J.C. 1993. Cattle behaviour,p. 10. Farming Press, Ipswich, UK.Google Scholar
Phillips, C. J.C., Youssef, M. Y. I., Chiy, P. C. and Arney, D. R. 1999. Sodium chloride supplements increase the salt appetite and reduce sterotypies in confined cattle. Animal Science 68: 741–747.Google Scholar
Schiffman, S. S., Pecore, S. D., Booth, B. J., Losee, M. L., Carr, B.T., Sattely-Miller, E., Graham, B. G. and Warwick, Z. S. 1994. Adaptation of sweeteners in water and tannic acid solutions. Physiology and Behavior 55: 547–559.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, T. R. 1992. Taste, the neural basis of body wisdom. In Nutritional triggers for health and disease (ed. Simpoulos, A. P.), p. 67. World Reviews of Nutrition and Dietetics, Basel, Karger.Google Scholar
Segerstad, C. H. and Hellekant, G. 1989. The sweet taste in the calf. 1. Chorda tympani proper nerve responses to taste stimulation of the tongue. Physiology and Behavior 45: 633–638.Google Scholar
Shimazaki, K., Sato, M. and Nakao, M. 1986. Photoaffinity labelling of thaumatin-binding protein in monkey circumvallate papillae. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 884: 291–298.Google Scholar
Smith, J. 1991. Food additive user’s handbook,pp. 224–235. Blackie, Glasgow, UK.Google Scholar
Statistical Analysis Systems Institute. 1987. SASISTAT users’s guide, release 6.04. Statistical Analysis Systems Institute Inc., Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Storry, J. E. and Sutton, J. D. 1969. The effect of change from low-roughage to high-roughage diets on rumen fermentation, blood composition and milk fat secretion in the cow. British Journal of Nutrition 23: 511–521.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed