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The influence of the legume Leucaena leucocephala and formal-casein on the production and composition of milk from grazing cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

J. F. Flores ,
T. H. Stobbs  and
D. J. Minson
J. F. Flores
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, St Lucia, Queensland 4067, Australia
T. H. Stobbs
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, St Lucia, Queensland 4067, Australia
D. J. Minson
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, St Lucia, Queensland 4067, Australia
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Summary

Twenty-four lactating Jersey cows, grazing a 3-week regrowth of nitrogen-fertilized Chloris gayana cv. Pioneer pastures selected a diet containing 18% crude protein and were given 0, 2 or 4 kg/day of fresh Leucaena leucocephala or 250 g/day of formal-casein. The effect of the treatments on milk production was measured in a 4 × 4 latin-square design experiment with experimental periods of 14 days.

Mean milk yield of unsupplemented cows was 9·6 kg/day, 10·1 kg/day when cows were supplemented with formal-casein and 10·3 kg/day when fed 2 or 4 kg Leucaena/day. Yields of solids-not-fat, protein, casein, butterfat and short and medium-chain (C4–C16) fatty acids in milk fat were higher when cows were fed supplements (P < 0·01). Intake of digestible organic matter was lowest on the unsupplemented diets although feed in excess of 40 kg D.M./cow/day was offered and cows had little difficulty harvesting feed with a mean bite size of 350 mg organic matter/bite and mean grazing time of 507 min/24 h.

It was concluded that a tropical grass diet containing 18% crude protein was deficient in protein for lactating cows and that small quantities of the legume Leucaena can alleviate such a deficiency.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 92 , Issue 2 , April 1979 , pp. 351 - 357
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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