EVALUATION OF COMPOUNDED SUPPLEMENTARY CONCENTRATE ON MILK YIELD AND QUALITY AMONG HOLSTEIN FRIESIAN CATTLE

Abstract

The Dairy industry in Kenya contributes 26% of the National GDP. However, dairy farmers experience low milk production despite their investment on commercial concentrates. Seed processing factories spend money in disposing off by-products such as maize cobs, broken maize grains, and bean hulls that accumulate in order to create working space. These by-products may be used to compound diets to meet the lactating cow’s nutrient needs at an affordable cost. The objective of this study was to formulate a diet from the by-products and evaluate its performance using lactating Holstein Friesian cows, which were in the same stage of lactation and not a wide range in milk production. The diet was formulated using the seed processing by-products from different companies. The ingredients were; male maize lines of corn, molasses, milling maize chaff, cotton seed cake, limestone and dairy premix. The formulated diet was coded (Y). Two feeding trials were carried out concurrently using ten Holstein Friesian lactating cows; in each experiment, five cows were used. Both studies used 5 x 5 Latin Square experimental design. The First trial was to evaluate the milk yield and the milk composition from the cows fed at different supplementation levels of diet Y. The cows were fed on chopped Napier grass as a basal diet, mineral supplement of 100g/day/cow and water was provided ad libitum. The supplementary diets formed the five treatments, which were; 0, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, and 1.25 Kg/L of milk per day, for treatment 1,2,3,4 and 5 respectively. The second trial was to evaluate the performance of lactating Holstein Friesian cows fed on the formulated and three different commercial diets. The commercial diets were coded W, X, & Z, formulated diet was coded Y, and diet C was the control, this formed the five treatments 1,2,3,4 and 5 respectively. Proximate analysis was carried out on the feed samples. Milk yields were measured daily and composition determined weekly for each treatment. The data obtained was analyzed using ANOVA, and significant means were separated using Standard Error Mean. The first trial showed significant difference in all the treatments, with different milk yield at all supplementation levels, with the highest mean of 7.30L/day in treatment 5 with 1.25Kg/L/day of supplementation, and lowest mean yield of 4.40L/day at treatment 1with no supplementation. Treatments 2, 3 and 4 of Supplementation (0.5, 0.75, and 1.0Kg/L) resulted in mean milk yield of 5.1, 5.70, and 6.54 L/day respectively. In the second trial, there was significant increase in milk yields in all the cows fed on both the formulated and commercial diets. The highest mean yield was in treatment 2, of diet X with 6.15L/day, and the lowest was in treatment 5, with mean yield of 4.05L/day in the control (C). Treatment 4, 3 and 1 with diet Y, Z, and W had a mean milk yield of 5.27, 5.61, and 5.98L/day respectively. There was no significant difference in milk composition in all the treatments of the two trials. There was significant difference in all the supplementation levels of diet (Y), but the highest was observed at supplementation level of 1.25Kg/l/day. When compared to the commercial concentrates, diet X was better in milk yields. It is concluded that the formulated diet (Y) can be used as a supplement to improve on milk yield of dairy animals.