• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1416-1424
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• 2017

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the effects of alfalfa flavonoids on the production performance, immunity, and ruminal fermentation of dairy cows. Methods: The experiments employed four primiparous Holstein cows fitted with ruminal cannulas, and used a $4{\times}4$ Latin square design. Cattle were fed total mixed ration supplemented with 0 (control group, Con), 20, 60, or 100 mg of alfalfa flavonoids extract (AFE) per kg of dairy cow body weight (BW). Results: The feed intake of the group receiving 60 mg/kg BW of AFE were significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of the group receiving 100 mg/kg BW. Milk yields and the fat, protein and lactose of milk were unaffected by AFE, while the total solids content of milk reduced (p = 0.05) linearly as AFE supplementation was increased. The somatic cell count of milk in group receiving 60 mg/kg BW of AFE was significantly lower (p<0.05) than that of the control group. Apparent total-tract digestibility of neutral detergent fiber and crude protein showed a tendency to increase (0.05<$p{\leq}0.10$) with ingestion of AFE. Methane dicarboxylic aldehyde concentration decreased (p = 0.03) linearly, whereas superoxide dismutase activity showed a tendency to increase (p = 0.10) quadratically, with increasing levels of AFE supplementation. The lymphocyte count and the proportion of lymphocytes decreased (p = 0.03) linearly, whereas the proportion of neutrophil granulocytes increased (p = 0.01) linearly with increasing levels of dietary AFE supplementation. The valeric acid/total volatile fatty acid (TVFA) ratio was increased (p = 0.01) linearly with increasing of the level of AFE supplementation, the other ruminal fermentation parameters were not affected by AFE supplementation. Relative levels of the rumen microbe Ruminococcus flavefaciens tended to decrease (p = 0.09) quadratically, whereas those of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens showed a tendency to increase (p = 0.07) quadratically in response to AFE supplementation. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that AFE supplementation can alter composition of milk, and may also have an increase tendency of nutrient digestion by regulating populations of microbes in the rumen, improve antioxidant properties by increasing antioxidant enzyme activities, and affect immunity by altering the proportions of lymphocyte and neutrophil granulocytes in dairy cows. The addition of 60 mg/kg BW of AFE to the diet of dairy cows was shown to be beneficial in this study.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.1616-1622
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• 2021

Objective: Bioactive compounds in ruminant products are related to functional compounds in their diets. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effect of forage sources, Italian ryegrass (IR) silage vs corn silage (CS) in the total mixed ration (TMR), on milk production, milk composition, and phytanic acid content in milk, as well as on the extent of conversion of dietary phytol to milk phytanic acid. Methods: Phytanic acid content in milk was investigated for cows fed a TMR containing either IR silage or CS using 17 cows over three periods of 21 days each. In periods 1 and 3, cows were fed CS-based TMR (30% CS), while in period 2, cows were fed IR silage-based TMR (20% IR silage and10% CS). Results: The results showed that there were no differences in fat, protein, lactose, solids-not-fat, somatic cell count, and fatty acid composition of milk among the three experimental periods. There were no differences in the plasma concentration of glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, and nonesterified fatty acids among the three experimental periods, while the blood urea nitrogen was higher (p<0.05) in period 2. The milk phytanic acid content was higher (p<0.05) in period 2 (13.9 mg/kg) compared with periods 1 (9.30 mg/kg) and 3 (8.80 mg/kg). Also, the phytanic acid content in the feces was higher (p<0.05) in period 2 (1.65 mg/kg dry matter [DM]) compared with period 1 (1.15 mg/kg DM), and 3 (1.17 mg/kg DM). Although the phytol contents in feces did not differ among the three feeding periods, the conversion ratio from dietary phytol to milk phytanic acid was estimated to be only 2.6%. Conclusion: Phytanic acid content in cow's milk increases with increasing phytol content in diets. However, phytol might not be completely metabolized in the rumen and phytanic acid, in turn, might not be completely recovered into cow's milk. The change of phytanic acid content in milk may be positively correlated with the change of phytol in the diet within a short time.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.129-140
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• 2014

This study was performed to evaluate the effects of replacing basic total mixed ration (TMR) with fermented soybean curd, Artemisia princeps Pampanini cv. Sajabal, and spent coffee grounds by-product on rumen microbial fermentation in vitro. Soybean in the basic TMR diet (control) was replaced by the following 9 treatments (3 replicates): maximum amounts of soybean curd (SC); fermented SC (FSC); 3, 5, and 10% FSC + fermented A. princeps Pampanini cv. Sajabal (1:1, DM basis, FSCS); and 3, 5, 10% FSC + fermented coffee meal (1:1, DM basis, FSCC) of soybean. FSC, FSCS, and FSCC were fermented using Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 496, Lactobacillus fermentum ATCC 1493, Lactobacillus plantarum KCTC 1048, and Lactobacillus casei IFO 3533. Replacing dairy cow TMR with FSC treatment led to a pH value of 6 after 8 h of incubation-the lowest value measured (p<0.05), and FSCS and FSCC treatments were higher than SC and FSC treatment after 6 h (p<0.05). Gas production was higher in response to 3% FSC and FSCC treatments than the control after 4-10 h. Dry matter digestibility was increased 0-12 h after FSC treatment (p<0.05) and was the highest after 24 h of 10% FSCS treatment. $NH_3-N$ concentration was the lowest after 24 h of FSC treatment (p<0.05). Microbial protein content increased in response to treatments that had been fermented by the Lactobacillus spp. compared to control and SC treatments (p<0.05). The total concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) was increased after 6-12 h of FSC treatment (p<0.05), while the highest acetate proportion was observed 24 h after 5% and 10% FSCS treatments. The FSC of propionate proportion was increased for 0-10 h compared with among treatments (p<0.05). The highest acetate in the propionate ration was observed after 12 h of SC treatment and the lowest with FSCS 3% treatment after 24 h. Methane ($CH_4$) emulsion was lower with A. princeps Pampanini cv. Sajabal and spent coffee grounds treatments than with the control, SC, and FSC treatments. These experiments were designed to replace the by-products of dairy cow TMR with SC, FSC, FSCS, and FSCC to improve TMR quality. Condensed tannins contained in FSCS and FSCC treatments, which reduced $CH_4$ emulsion in vitro, decreased rumen microbial fermentation during the early incubation time. Therefore, future experiments are required to develop a rumen continuous culture system and an in vivo test to optimize the percentages of FSC, FSCS, and FSCC in the TMR diet of the dairy cows.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.960-964
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• 2014

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of diets containing coarse-texture rice straw and small particle size alfalfa pellets as a part of total mixed ration (TMR) on milk productivity and chewing activity in lactating dairy cows. Sixteen multiparous Holstein dairy cows ($670{\pm}21kg$ body weight) in mid-lactation ($194.1{\pm}13.6$ days in milk) were randomly assigned to TMR containing 50% of timothy hay (TH) or TMR containing 20% of rice straw and 30% of alfalfa pellet mixture (RSAP). Geometric mean lengths of TH and RSAP were found to be 5.8 and 3.6, respectively. Dry matter intake, milk yield and milk composition were measured. Moreover, eating and ruminating times were recorded continuously using infrared digital camcorders. Milk yield and milk composition were not detected to have significant differences between TH and RSAP. Dry matter intake (DMI) did not significantly differ for cows fed with TH or RSAP. Although particle size of TH was larger than RSAP, eating, ruminating and total chewing time (min/d or min/kg of DMI) on TH and RSAP were similar. Taken together, our results suggest that using a proper amount of coarse-texture rice straw with high value nutritive alfalfa pellets may stimulate chewing activity in dairy cows without decreasing milk yield and composition even though the quantity of rice straw was 40% of TH.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.677-684
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• 2008

Accurate estimation of dry matter intake (DMI) is a prerequisite to meet animal performance targets without penalizing animal health and the environment. The objective of the current study was to evaluate some of the existing models in order to predict DMI when lactating dairy cows were offered a total mixed ration containing a high level of concentrates and locally produced agricultural by-products. Six popular models were chosen for DMI prediction (Brown et al., 1977; Rayburn and Fox, 1993; Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries Research Council Secretariat, 1999; National Research Council (NRC), 2001; Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS), Fox et al., 2003; Fuentes-Pila et al., 2003). Databases for DMI comparison were constructed from two different sources: i) 12 commercial farm investigations and ii) a controlled dairy cow experiment. The model evaluation was performed using two different methods: i) linear regression analysis and ii) mean square error prediction analysis. In the commercial farm investigation, DMI predicted by Fuentes-Pila et al. (2003) was the most accurate when compared with the actual mean DMI, whilst the CNCPS prediction showed larger mean bias (difference between mean predicted and mean observed values). Similar results were observed in the controlled dairy cow experiment where the mean bias by Fuentes-Pila et al. (2003) was the smallest of all six chosen models. The more accurate prediction by Fuentes-Pila et al. (2003) could be attributed to the inclusion of dietary factors, particularly fiber as these factors were not considered in some models (i.e. NRC, 2001; CNCPS (Fox et al., 2003)). Linear regression analysis had little meaningful biological significance when evaluating models for prediction of DMI in this study. Further research is required to improve the accuracy of the models, and may recommend more mechanistic approaches to investigate feedstuffs (common to the Asian region), animal genotype, environmental conditions and their interaction, as the majority of the models employed are based on empirical approaches.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.377-381
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• 1993

Twenty male crossbred ($Sahiwal{\times}HF$) calves of about 6-9 months of age were divided into four groups of five animals each. All the animals were offered wheat straw ad lib. As the basal feed. However, animals in group I were fed concentrate mixture while the animals in groups II, III and IV had free access to urea molasses mineral block (UMMB) lick (I), (II) and (III) respectively as a partial substitute of concentrate mixture. The average concentrate offered (kg/day) to the animals was significantly (p<0.01) higher in group I ($2.69{\pm}0.18$) compared to groups II ($1.76{\pm}0.15$), III ($1.70{\pm}0.06$) and IV ($1.65{\pm}0.12$). The UMMB lick consumed was non-significantly different amongst groups I ($535.40{\pm}38.14$), II ($525.60{\pm}31.82$), III ($551.00{\pm}38.49$) and IV ($548.80{\pm}45.46$). Except ether extract, the digestibility coefficients of CP, ADF and NDF were non-significantly different in different groups. Similarly, N balance (g/day) and percent N retention of intake was not affected in different groups on supplementation of UMMB lick. Body composition of animals was similar in different groups supplemented with either concentrate mixture or concentrate mixture and UMMB licks. It may be concluded from these studies that UMMB lick can partially replace the concentrate mixture in the diet of growing calves without affecting the growth rate, nutrient utilization and body composition. The UMMB lick, thus, can form a part of the ration economically in the diet of growing ruminants especially in developing countries.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.785-790
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• 2000

The effect of formaldehyde treatment of solvent and mechanical extracted cottonseed meal on the performance, digestibility and nitrogen balance was assessed in lambs. Four total mixed rations viz., A, B, C and D containing 40% untreated and treated solvent and mechanical extracted meal were prepared. Sixteen male lambs with average BW of 20-22 kg were randomly allocated to experimental rations and were fed individually during ninety days growth trial. The treatment of solvent extracted cottonseed meal resulted in a linear decrease in ruminal protein degradation. Maximum decrease (64%) in protein degradation was observed at 4 h incubation time with 0.3% formaldehyde treatment. Highest daily BW gain was observed in lambs fed on rations Band D compared to lambs fed on rations A and C. Daily BW gain was higher on rations having 0.3% for fromaldehyde treated cottonseed meals. Higher DM digestibility was observed on ration D compared to other rations. Higher (p<0.05) CP and CF digestibility was observed on rations Band D compared to rations A and C. Nitrogen retention as % age of nitrogen intake was (p<0.05) higher for lambs fed rations B and D compared to rations A and C. Similar pattern was observed for nitrogen retention as percent of nitrogen absorbed. The present study suggested that oil extraction methods of cottonseed did not alter their meal utilization in lambs, however, formaldehyde (0.3%) treatment of meals enhanced its efficiency for growth, digestibility and nitrogen balance in lambs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.385-390
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• 1998

An experiment was conducted for 90 days using 9 growing bull calves (initial LW 71.5 kg) to investigate the effect of replacing til oil cake by poultry excreta on growth performance and nutrient utilization. The animals were randomly divided into three groups. The control group A was fed with conventional concentrate mixture containing til oil cake, rice bran, wheat bran, bone meal and common salt and the groups B and C were offered diets in which 50 and 100 percent of til oil cake of diet A were replaced by dried poultry excreta. All the animals were fed urea soaked rice straw ad libitum and concentrate mixture was given at the rate of 10 g per kg LW. Towards the end of growth trial a conventional digestibility trial was conducted. Average daily live weight gain was 216, 211 and 188 g for animals fed diets A, B and C, respectively. Average daily dry matter intake in groups A, B and C was 3.42, 3.37 and 3.30 kg per 100 kg LW, respectively. The daily live weight gain and dry matter intake did not differ significantly (p > 0.05) among the dietary groups. The digestibility coefficient for DM or NFE was almost similar but that for OM, CP, CF and EE was significantly different (p < 0.01) among the dietary groups. TDN percent in diets A, B and C was 57.3 53.3 and 50.8, respectively and the difference was significant (p < 0.01). Animals in all the groups were in a state of positive nitrogen balance. The results indicated that til oil cake can be replaced by dried poultry excreta in bull calf ration.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1577-1586
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• 2011

This study was carried out to estimate effects of synbiotics containing anaerobic microorganisms and prebiotics on in vitro fermentation characteristics and in situ disappearance rate of fermented total mixed ration (F-TMR). For the in vitro trial, ninety vinyl bags were prepared to analyze temperature, pH, ammonia concentration, microbial growth rate and short chain fatty acid concentration. For the in situ trial, one hundred twenty nylon bags were prepared to analyze dry matter (DM), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) disappearance rate. Treatments consisted of a basal diet (US) with prebiotics and probiotics from anaerobic mold (MS), bacteria (BS), yeast (YS) or compound (CS). It was found that temperatures at 14 and 21 days were significantly higher (p<0.05) in the YS and CS than in the others. The pH at 21 days was lower in the CS than in the US. The synbiotic treatments had significantly increased (p<0.05) ammonia concentration at 21 days. The DM disappearance at 72 h was significantly higher (p<0.05) in the MS and CS than in the others. ADF and NDF disappearance rate tended to increase at a rate similar to the DM disappearance rate. Therefore, this study suggests that synbiotics (probiotics with prebiotics) may partially help the quality of fermentation and digestibility of TMR (MS and CS) as fiber disappearance.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.1261-1269
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• 2017

Objective: The effect of flavonoids from alfalfa on the microbial flora was determined using molecular techniques of 16S ribosome deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) analysis. Methods: Four primiparous Holstein heifers fitted with ruminal cannulas were used in a $4{\times}4$ Latin square design and fed a total mixed ration to which alfalfa flavonoids extract (AFE) was added at the rates of 0 (A, control), 20 (B), 60 (C), or 100 (D) mg per kg of heifer BW. Results: The number of operational taxonomic units in heifers given higher levels of flavonoid extract (C and D) was higher than for the two other treatments. The Shannon, Ace, and Chao indices for treatment C were significantly higher than for the other treatments (p<0.05). The number of phyla and genera increased linearly with increasing dietary supplementation of AFE (p<0.05). The principal co-ordinates analysis plot showed substantial differences in the microbial flora for the four treatments. The microbial flora in treatment A was similar to that in B, C, and D were similar by the weighted analysis. The richness of Tenericutes at the phylum level tended to increase with increasing AFE (p = 0.10). The proportion of Euryarchaeota at the phylum level increased linearly, whereas the proportion of Fusobacteria decreased linearly with increasing AFE supplementation (p = 0.04). The percentage of Mogibacterium, Pyramidobacter, and Asteroleplasma at the genus level decreased linearly with increasing AFE (p<0.05). The abundance of Spirochaeta, Succinivibrio, and Suttonella at the genus level tended to decrease linearly with increasing AFE (0.05