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Effects of mixtures of red clover and maize silages on milk production and Nitrogen utilisation by dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2017

R. J. Dewhurst ,
R. J. Merry  and
L. J. Davies
R. J. Dewhurst*
Affiliation:
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth SY23 3EB, U.K.
R. J. Merry
Affiliation:
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth SY23 3EB, U.K.
L. J. Davies
Affiliation:
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Trawsgoed Research Farm, Aberystwyth SY24 4LL, U.K.
*
Email: richard.dewhurst@bbsrc.ac.uk
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Extract

Legumes are important to sustainable agriculture because of their N fixing ability and consequent reduced reliance on increasingly scarce oil resources. Our previous studies showed consistently higher intakes and milk yields when red clover silage replaced grass silage in dairy cow diets (Dewhurst et al., 2003). However, the increased intakes of a forage which contains higher levels of N led to a reduction in the efficiency of conversion of feed N into milk N (g/g) from around 0.25 to 0.20 or less. Maize silage has similar high intake characteristics, but its low N content and considerable starch content suggest that it would be highly complementary to red clover silage in terms of N-use efficiency. This study evaluated production and efficiency responses to mixtures of red clover and maize silages in comparison with perennial ryegrass silage.

Type
Theatre Presentations
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 2005 , 2005 , pp. 23
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 2005

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References

Dewhurst, R. J., Fisher, W. J., Tweed, J. K. S. and Wilkins, R. J. 2003. Comparison of grass and legume silages for milk production. 1. Production responses with different levels of concentrate. Journal of Dairy Science 42: 2598–2661.Google Scholar
Spanghero, M. and Kowalski, Z. M. 1997. Critical analysis of N balance experiments with lactating cows. Livestock Production Science 42: 113–122.Google Scholar