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The use of n-alkanes for prediction of intake in dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2021

Y. Unal ,
P. C. Garnsworthy  and
P. Gorton
Y. Unal
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, Leics. LE12 5RD, United Kingdom
P. C. Garnsworthy
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, Leics. LE12 5RD, United Kingdom
P. Gorton
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, Leics. LE12 5RD, United Kingdom
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Extract

Alkanes are the components of plant cuticular waxes. Recent studies have been shown that the faecal ratio of natural to dosed alkane concentration can provide accurate and precise prediction of herbage intake in grazing sheep ( Mayes et al. 1986; Vulich et al. 1991). Limited information is available on the use of n-alkanes with dairy cows, but they have the potential to predict intake of group-fed cows. The objective of this study was to evaluate n-alkanes as markers to predict the intake of hay based diets for dairy cows.

Three rumen-fistulated Holstein Friesian dairy cows were housed in individual standings. A three by three latin square design was used with a different level of hay (Diet A, 6; B, 8; C,10 kg/d) and 1 kg/d rolled barley for each cow. Each period was lasted 20 days. The first 10 days was a preliminary period and over the following 10 days total faecal collection took place.

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Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 1997 , 1997 , pp. 137
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1997

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References

Mayes, R. W., Lamb, C.S. and Colgrove, P. M. (1986). The use of dosed and herbage n-alkanes as markers for the determination of herbage intake. Journal of Agricultural Sciences Cambridge 107: 161–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vulich, S. A., O'riordan, E. G. and Hanrahan, J. P. (1991). Use of n-alkanes for the estimation of herbage intake in sheep: accuracy and precision of the estimates. Journal of Agricultural Sciences Cambridge 116: 319–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar