• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.1060-1068
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• 2009

The buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is an important contributor to milk, meat, power, fuel and leather production in many developing countries. Buffaloes can be categorized into Asian and Mediterranean buffaloes. Asian buffalo includes two subspecies known as Riverine and Swamp types. Riverine (water buffalo) and Swamp buffaloes possess different genetics (50 vs. 48 chromosomes, respectively), morphology (body frame, body weight, horn shape and skin color) and behavior (wallowing in mud or water) and thus, are reared and used for different purposes. Low per head milk yield, poor reproductive performance (seasonal breeding behavior, anestrous, and longer calving interval) and low growth rate in buffaloes have been attributed to insufficient supply of nutrients. In many parts of Asia, where the buffalo is an integral part of the food chain and rural economy, irregular and inadequate availability of quality feedstuffs and their utilization are hampering the performance of this unique animal. Balanced nutrition and better management can enhance buffalo productivity. Many efforts have been made in the last few decades to improve nutrient supply and utilization in buffaloes. Recent research on locally available feed resources such as crop residues, and industrial by-products, dietary addition of micronutrients, use of performance modifiers and use of ruminally protected fat and protein sources have shown significant potential to improve growth, milk yield and reproductive performance of buffaloes. However, a number of issues, including establishment of nutrient requirements for dairy and beef, development of buffalo calf feeding systems, nutritional management of metabolic and reproductive anomalies, and understanding and exploitation of the buffalo gut ecosystem, need to be addressed. Extensive coordinated research and extension efforts are required for improved buffalo nutrition in developing countries.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.218-227
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• 2024

Objective: The aim of this research was to explore the effects of dietary substitution of alfalfa hay by amaranth hay on production performance, rumen fermentation, nutrient digestibility, serum biochemical parameters and antioxidant ability in dairy cows. Methods: A total of 45 healthy Holstein cows with same parity and similar milk yield and body weight were randomly divided into 3 groups: control diet without amaranth hay (CON) or 50% and 100% alfalfa hay replaced by an equal amount of amaranth hay (dry matter basis, AH1 and AH2, respectively). All the cows were fed regularly 3 times a day at 06:30, 14:30, and 22:30 and had free access to water. The experiment lasted for 60 d. Results: The dry matter intake of CON and AH1 groups was higher (p<0.05) than that of AH2 group. Compared with AH1 group, the milk yield of AH2 group was reduced (p<0.05). Moreover, dietary substitution of alfalfa hay by amaranth hay increased (p<0.05) milk fat, ammonia nitrogen and acetate concentrations. However, the crude protein digestibility of AH2 group was lower (p<0.05) than that of CON group, while an opposite tendency of serum urea nitrogen was found between two groups. The neutral detergent fiber digestibility of AH1 group was increased (p<0.05) when compared to AH2 group. Amaranth hay treatment increased (p<0.05) the serum concentration of glutathione peroxidase in dairy cows. Compared with CON group, the malonaldehyde activity of AH1 group was decreased (p<0.05). Conclusion: Dietary replacing alfalfa hay with amaranth hay (50% ratio) in dairy cows did not affect production performance but improved their antioxidant ability.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.271-280
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of Aspergillus niger-derived multi-enzyme complex supplementation to feedrestricted lactating sows on performances, milk yield, blood profiles, and manure excretion as compared with ad libitum-fed sows without supplementation of enzyme. Fifty multiparous lactating Berkshire sows were allotted to 5 treatments of 10 sows per treatment during a 28-d lactation period and litter per sow was standardized to 9 suckling piglets. Treatments were ad libitum-fed sows without enzyme and feed-restricted sows supplemented with four increasing levels (0, 0.02, 0.04 and 0.08%) of multi-enzyme complex derived from Aspergillus niger. Blood samples from all sows were collected to determine serum metabolite concentrations before the morning feeding on d 27 of lactation. Litter body weight and a piglet weight at weaning, and litter weight gain significantly (P<0.05) increased with increasing levels of multi-enzyme complex, but there was no significant difference between ad libitum-fed sows without enzyme and feed-restricted sows supplemented with multi-enzyme complex. Body condition score and backfat depth at weaning significantly (P<0.05) increased as multi-enzyme complex level increased. Lactational backfat depth tended (P>0.05) to less decrease with increasing levels of enzyme complex. Serum inorganic phosphorus and non-esterified fatty acid concentrations significantly (P<0.05) increased with increasing levels of enzyme complex. Daily milk yield was not significantly different across treatments, but milk fat yield significantly (P<0.05) increased as multi-enzyme complex level increased. Manure output was significantly (P<0.01) higher for ad libitum-fed sows than for feed-restricted sows, but there was no significant difference among feed-restricted sows supplemented with increasing levels of multi-enzyme complex. Fecal phosphorus amount significantly (P<0.05) decreased with increasing levels of multi-enzyme complex. Feed costs of sows per litter weight gain were reduced by 1.25% to 9.67% with increasing levels of multi-enzyme complex as compared with ad libitum-fed sows without enzyme. The results indicated that multi-enzyme supplementation to feed-restricted lactating sows not only increased litter performances, but also was comparable to ad libitum-fed sows, resulting in reduced feed costs. Moreover, the reduction of fecal phosphorus amount with increasing levels of enzyme complex would contribute to the reduction of environmental pollution.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2013

This study was aimed to solve the problems of current national genetic evaluation systems in Korea and its development to pass the verification processes as required by International Bull Evaluation Service (Interbull). This will enable Korea to participate in international genetic evaluation program. A total of 1,416,589 test-day milk records with calving dates used in this study were collected by National Agricultural Cooperative Federation from 2001 to 2009. Parity was limited up to fifth calving and milk production records were adjusted to cumulative 305 day lactation. The pedigree consisted of 2,279,741 animals where 2,467 bulls had 535,409 parents. A newly developed multiple trait model was used in calculation of breeding values for milk yield, milk fat, and protein yield. Data were edited with SAS (version 9.2) and R programs, and genetic parameters were estimated using VCE 6.0. Results showed a continuous increase in genetic potentials, in general, and no remarkable differences were found between performances by parity. Except fat yield, potentials in milk yield and protein yield were well calculated. We found an increased number of daughters per each top ranked 1,000 bulls in recent years of calf births compared to the cases of previous evaluations. Of the bulls ranked top 100 by our new models (multiple-trait models) we found that increased numbers of bulls were included. Of twenty eight bulls born in 2006, twenty bulls born in 2007 and eight bulls born in 2008 that were listed by new models, only 23, 12, and 2 bulls born in respective years were represented on top 100 by old single-trait models. Re-ranking of the daughters or sires by multiple-trait models suggest that this new multiple trait approach should be used for dairy cattle genetic evaluation and seed-stock selection in the future to increase the accuracy of multiple trait selection. Breeding values for these traits should also be calculated by new method for international genetic evaluation.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.643-650
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of dehulled soybean (DHSB), and the rapid preparation possibility of soybean milk with DHSB (SM-DHSB), and then the quality of SM-DHSB. In DHSB, the moisture content decreased, the crude protein, crude fat, minerals, and carbohydrate contents increased, and the isoflavone (daidzein, genistein and glycitein) content was similar to that of soybean (SB). The water absorption rate of DHSB for soybean milk preparation was higher than that of SB. In the results of SM-DHSB and soybean milk (SM) qualities, the crude protein content, total solid content, and the viscosity of SM-DHSB were higher, the yield and the proximate composition (except crude protein) were similar, and the Biji production rate, and total dietary fiber content of SM-DHSB were lower compared to the SM. In terms of the isoflavone contents of SM-DHSB, daidzein and genistein content were similar, and glycitein content was lower compared with the SM. Consequently, these results suggest the possible use of DHSB for rapid SM-DHSB preparation, because the soaking time was decreased by the high water absorption rate of DHSB in the SM preparation, and the quality of SM-DHSB improved compared to those of the SM.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.1122-1127
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• 2019

Objective: The objective of current study was to investigate the lactation performance and rumen fermentation characteristics of dairy cows fed a diet with alfalfa hay replaced by corn stover but supplemented with molasses. Methods: Sixteen Holstein cows in mid-lactation were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 dietary treatments: i) alfalfa based diet (AH), and ii) corn stover based diet supplemented with molasses (CSM). The experiment was conducted according to a $2{\times}2$ crossover design with 22-d each period, consisting of 17 d for adaptation and 5 d for data and samples collection. Results: Dry matter intake and milk yield were higher for cows fed AH than CSM (p<0.01). Milk protein content and nitrogen conversion were higher (p<0.05), while milk urea nitrogen was lower (p<0.01) for cows fed AH than CSM-fed cows. Contents of milk total solids, fat and lactose were not different between two groups (p>0.10). Total rumen volatile fatty acid concentration tended to be higher (p = 0.06) for cows fed AH than CSM-fed cows. Molar proportion of acetate was lower (p = 0.04), but valerate was higher (p = 0.02) in cows fed AH than CSM-fed cows. Rumen concentration of propionate, and isobutyrate, and ratio of acetate to propionate tended to be different (p<0.10) between two groups. The feed cost per kilogram of milk was lower in CSM than AH (p<0.01). No differences were found in feed efficiency and most plasma parameters tested (p>0.10). Conclusion: In comparison with AH diet, CSM diet could be fed to dairy cows without negative effect on feed efficiency, ruminal fermentation, but economically beneficial, indicating that CSM could be an alternative choice for dairy farms instead of AH to feed midlactation dairy cows.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.955-963
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• 2022

Objective: The aim of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for 305-day cumulative milk yield and components, growth, and reproductive traits in Guzerá cattle. Methods: The evaluated traits were 305-day first-lactation cumulative yields (kg) of milk (MY305), fat (FY305), protein (PY305), lactose (LY305), and total solids (SY305); age at first calving (AFC) in days; adjusted scrotal perimeter (cm) at the ages of 365 (SP365) and 450 (SP450) days; and adjusted body weight (kg) at the ages of 210 (W210), 365 (W365), and 450 (W450) days. The (co)variance components were estimated using the restricted maximum likelihood method for single-trait, bi-trait and tri-trait analyses. Contemporary groups and additive genetic effects were included in the general mixed model. Maternal genetic and permanent environmental effects were also included for W210. Results: The direct heritability estimates ranged from 0.16 (W210) to 0.32 (MY305). The maternal heritability estimate for W210 was 0.03. Genetic correlation estimates among milk production traits and growth traits ranged from 0.92 to 0.99 and from 0.92 to 0.99, respectively. For milk production and growth traits, the genetic correlations ranged from 0.33 to 0.56. The genetic correlations among AFC and all other traits were negative (-0.43 to -0.27). Scrotal perimeter traits and body weights showed genetic correlations ranging from 0.41 to 0.46, and scrotal perimeter and milk production traits showed genetic correlations ranging from 0.11 to 0.30. The phenotypic correlations were similar in direction (same sign) and lower than the corresponding genetic correlations. Conclusion: These results suggest the viability and potential of joint selection for dairy and beef traits in Guzerá cattle, taking into account reproductive traits.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.427-438
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• 1996

The suitability of female cattle ($Brahman{\times}Holstein$) and buffaloes (Murrah / Jafarabadi) for work on a sugarcane crusher was tested. The animals were fed chopped sugarcane tops and elephant grass supplemented with rice bran and urea-molasses blocks. In experiment 1, six cattle and six buffaloes, (with three animals seven to eight months pregnant at the start of the experiment in each group), worked individually, alternate weeks for 90 minutes a day for 6 d/week. Within the 90 min, cattle did more work than buffaloes (p < 0.05), and non-pregnant animals did more than pregnant animals, but cattle crushed significantly (p < 0.05) more cane per day than buffaloes. During work animals lost weight, but gained the weight back during resting weeks, when fodder intakes were higher. There were no significant differences in live weight change and fodder intakes between pregnant and non-pregnant animals during the six weeks. In experiment 2, four pairs of lactating cows and buffaloes crushed sugarcane for 3 h/d, 6 d/week for three weeks. Work done was higher in cattle than buffaloes, but cane crushed was marginally lower. All animals lost weight during work, particularly in the first week, but gained weight during the week after work. Daily milk yield was lower during the working weeks ($-0.55{\pm}0.15kg$) than in the week before work. Butter fat yield showed no significant change. One buffalo showed ovarian activity and oestrus behaviour during the work. Two cows showed ovarian activity within one month after the work. It was concluded that pregnant and lactating cows and buffaloes can effectively operate a cane crusher, however a temporary reduction in milk yield can be expected in the working period, and ovarian activity may be suppressed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.1340-1348
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• 2019

Objective: The objectives were to compare variance components, genetic parameters, prediction accuracies, and genomic-polygenic estimated breeding value (EBV) rankings for milk yield (MY) and fat yield (FY) in the Thai multibreed dairy population using five single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sets from GeneSeek GGP80K chip. Methods: The dataset contained monthly MY and FY of 8,361 first-lactation cows from 810 farms. Variance components, genetic parameters, and EBV for five SNP sets from the GeneSeek GGP80K chip were obtained using a 2-trait single-step average-information restricted maximum likelihood procedure. The SNP sets were the complete SNP set (all available SNP; SNP100), top 75% set (SNP75), top 50% set (SNP50), top 25% set (SNP25), and top 5% set (SNP5). The 2-trait models included herd-year-season, heterozygosity and age at first calving as fixed effects, and animal additive genetic and residual as random effects. Results: The estimates of additive genetic variances for MY and FY from SNP subsets were mostly higher than those of the complete set. The SNP25 MY and FY heritability estimates (0.276 and 0.183) were higher than those from SNP75 (0.265 and 0.168), SNP50 (0.275 and 0.179), SNP5 (0.231 and 0.169), and SNP100 (0.251and 0.159). The SNP25 EBV accuracies for MY and FY (39.76% and 33.82%) were higher than for SNP75 (35.01% and 32.60%), SNP50 (39.64% and 33.38%), SNP5 (38.61% and 29.70%), and SNP100 (34.43% and 31.61%). All rank correlations between SNP100 and SNP subsets were above 0.98 for both traits, except for SNP100 and SNP5 (0.93 for MY; 0.92 for FY). Conclusion: The high SNP25 estimates of genetic variances, heritabilities, EBV accuracies, and rank correlations between SNP100 and SNP25 for MY and FY indicated that genotyping animals with SNP25 dedicated chip would be a suitable to maintain genotyping costs low while speeding up genetic progress for MY and FY in the Thai dairy population.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.131-142
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• 2003

We evaluated the effects of adding fibrolytic enzyme into ruminant diets on ruminal fermentation (in vitro) and lactational performances of dairy cows (in vivo). Through the in vitro experiment that was carried out with different contents of NDF (34, 38, 43%) in diets, digestibilities of NDF in the rumen appeared not significantly different by the addition of enzyme but were different by NDF content in diets showing higher digestibility in NDF 43% diet. It could be attributed by the relatively higher amount of hemicellulose in the current experimental diets than in conventional diets that might have been digested easily by the addition of fibrolytic enzyme in the rumen. The addition of fibrolytic enzyme tended to increase NDF digestibilities to a little extent both in 0.05 and 0.1% enzyme levels. Ruminal pH, NH3-N concentrations and VFA production in the rumen were not affected by the addition of fibrolytic enzyme. Activities of CMCase and xylanase were higher in enzyme treated diets of both NDF 34 and 38%. In particular, the activities of xylanase that slowly decreased from 0 to 12 hr but rapidly after 24 hr indicates that the major action of the enzyme in the rumen occurs in early period of incubation. Through an in vivo experiment, fibrolytic enzyme addition into the diets of dairy cows indeed affected lactational performance of milk yield. The cows fed enzyme treated diets produced 8% (1.9kg/d) more amounts of milk than with no enzyme addition. Milk composition of milk fat and protein was not affected by enzyme addition. Overall, the results of this in vivo study indicates that fibrolytic enzyme can be used to improve milk production in lactating cows. In respect that animals in different treatments of this study had the same amounts of intake, the increased milk yield with enzyme addition may be attributed to the improved utilization of nutrients in the digestive tract.