Effect of feeding artichoke bracts silage on production of confined dairy cattle

D M Pizarro, G M Trujillo¹ and C A Gómez

Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina. Animal Science Faculty. Av. La Molina S/N. La Molina, Lima 12, Peru
dpizarro@lamolina.edu.pe
¹ Agropecuaria La Mocherita SAC. Carretera Industrial S/N Trujillo, La Libertad, Peru

Abstract

A feeding trial was carried out with two diets which differed in the main fibrous component of the ration: Asparagus browse versus artichoke bracts silage. Twenty-four Holstein cows were selected and a crossover design was used with two periods of 21 days each. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of feeding artichoke bracts silage on production of confined dairy cattle. Individual milk production (kg/day) and its composition based on total solids (%), fat (%) and protein (%) levels were evaluated. Additionally, blood urea nitrogen concentration was evaluated. Cows produced more milk fed with artichoke silage (38.7 kg/day) than from asparagus browse in the feed (31.0 kg/day), without affecting total solids, protein or fat content of milk or blood urea nitrogen. It is concluded that artichoke bracts silage has good prospect to be included in dairy rations.

Keywords: artichoke, silage, dairy cattle

Introduction

One of the main limiting factors for intensive dairy farming growth in Peru is the scarcity of forages, for which an option is a greater use of agricultural and agroindustrial byproducts in cattle feeding (Megias et al 2002, Sallam et al 2008). One of the residues obtained from the industry that processes artichoke conserves consists of the inflorescence bracts. In this sense, Peru is one of the main world artichoke producers and its growth has been sustained at a rate of 62.4% in the last ten years (INEI 2018), which gives good potential to seasonally provide forage for dairy cattle. The conservation for animal feeding of this artichoke bracts, which present high moisture content, has been attempted by drying it to the environment temperature with little success due to a rapid deterioration which limits its use for animal feeding. Although there are some farms on the coast of Peru that make silage from the artichoke biomass (leaves and stems) once the harvest is finished, there is limited knowledge in Peru and other places in the world about the ensiling of artichoke bracts (Jaramillo et al 2010, Muelas et al 2017). Therefore, the objective of this research is to evaluate the effect of feeding artichoke bracts silage on production of confined dairy cattle.

Materials and methods

Study site

The research was carried out in the dairy farm "La Mocherita"; located in La Libertad, a region on the northern coast of Peru in the subtropical desert life zone (Holdridge, 2000). This zone and production system is highly representative of milk production of confined cattle in the coast of Peru.

Design

During the last quarter of 2017, two pile silos of 39 and 26 MT were made, with artichoke bracts obtained from Danper Trujillo Company. The bracts were obtained from the processing of conserves after the peeling and cutting of artichoke hearts, which is carried out in a continuous circular type machine with multiple feeding stations for the processing of 120 artichoke units per minute (Gamarra, 2014 ). Fresh bracts of artichoke without chopping were then ensiled without any processing or use of additives. Given the high humidity of the silage, compaction was not possible, but an appropriate seal was made. The silos at the opening of 51 days had an average pH value of 4.1, 12.5% ​​of dry matter (DM), 13.8% of crude protein and 57.1% of neutral detergent fiber on a dry matter basis.

Animals

Twenty-four multiparous Holstein cows with an average body condition of 2.9 ± 0.28 on a 1-5 scale (Edmonson et al 1989) and 170 ± 20 lactation days at the beginning of the trial were used. The number of animals was determined by the availability of ensilaged bracts (65MT), assuming a consumption of 11kg of DM of silage per day with 12.5% DM. The animals were divided into two pens (twelve cows per pen). Prior to the treatment period, cows were fed with asparagus browse and concentrate. Milk yield for both groups were recorded (38.1 ± 4.4 kg/day, 38.4 ± 4.7 kg/day), in order to correct if necessary the milk yields during the experiment as no differences between both groups were observed.

Treatments

Two treatments were evaluated which differed in the main fibrous component of the ration: Asparagus browse versus artichoke bracts silage (Table 1). The animals were fed in two periods. Each period was made up of 14 days of adaptation and 07 days of milk production evaluation and milk sample collection. In the first period, animals of one group were fed with the asparagus browse and the other group of animals were fed with the artichoke bracts silage, then a changeover of the treatments was performed. The diets were composed of 12.5 kg of concentrate plus asparagus browse or artichoke bracts silage, accordingly to the treatment, offered ad libitum; maintaining that the left overs represents 10% of the offer of the previous day. Feed was offered 4 times a day in similar amounts.

Asparagus browse had 28.7% of dry matter, 10.8% of crude protein and 57.3% of neutral detergent fiber.

Evaluations

Individual measurement of milk production (kg/day) and its composition based on levels of total solids (%), fat (%) and protein (%) were assessed on the twenty-four animals individually during the seven days of collection in each of the two periods. Daily milk production per animal was obtained directly from the milking machine, while milk composition was determined using a milk analyzer Lactoscan MCC (Milkotronic Ltd., Bulgaria). Blood samples were collected day 6 of each evaluation period before the first feeding by jugular venopuncture in tubes without coagulant in five animals per pen randomly selected. Blood urea nitrogen in those samples was measured using a CB 350i automated clinical analyzer (Wiener Lab, Argentine).

Statistical analysis

Statistical packages Microsoft Excel 2015 and Stata v.15 were used for the statistical analysis. Initially, a descriptive analysis and estimation of measures of central tendency was carried out and then the normality was evaluated by the Shapiro-Wilk test. For the bivariate analysis, a crossover design was applied using the T and Mann Whitney and T tests were used for comparisons between groups using a confidence level of 95% (StataCorp 2017).

Results and discussion

Our results show a difference between the average daily milk production of the animals that consumed artichoke silage versus those that received asparagus browse (Table 2). This finding could be explained by the superior nutritional value of this by-product, based on fermentative and chemical composition (Meneses et al 2007) in relation to its energy contribution. It is not due to differences in feed consumption since it was similar between the two treatments. In the present study, we did not assess fermentative characteristics of the silage, which should be important to measure in future studies.

Regarding to milk composition, when comparing the results of the animals that consumed artichoke bracts silage versus those that consumed asparagus browse, no differences were observed in the parameters evaluated (Table 2). Similar results were observed in studies carried out on sheep and goats (Jaramillo et al 2010, Muelas et al 2017). The values of total solids and fat are generally low for both treatments, which would indicate a low fiber level in these rations. In regard to the blood urea nitrogen analysis, no differences were observed either. This urea level would indicate normality in the contribution of the diet with respect to the protein status of the cows under study (Arias and Nesti di Alonso 1999).

Conclusions

• The use of artichoke bracts silage in dairy cattle fed in confinement improved daily milk production, without affecting milk composition or blood urea nitrogen.

Acknowledgment

This work was funded by Grant Nº 340-INNOVATEPERU-PITEI-2016 from Innovate Peru Program.

References

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Received 17 November 2018; Accepted 8 February 2019; Published 4 March 2019

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