Effects of Supplementing Borana Dairy
Cows with Local (Vachelliatortilis pods) and Conventional Feeds on
Milk Yield and Milk Composition
Beshir Hussien* and Birhanu
Bekele
Oromia Agricultural Research
Institute, Yabello Pastoral and Dryland Agriculture Research Center, P.O. Box
85, Yabello, Ethiopia
ABSTRACT
An
experiment was conducted at Yabello Pastoral and Dryland Agricultural Research
Center in Oromia National Regional State to evaluate the effects of local and
conventional feed supplementation on milk yield and milk composition of Borana
cows. Twelve lactating Borana cows of first parity and second parity with a
similar stage of lactation were used. The experiment had four treatments with
three replications using a randomized complete block design. Treatments
included noug seed cake (NSK)+ wheat bran + free grazing (T1), Vachelliatortilis
pods + wheat bran + free grazing (T2), Vachelliatortilis pods +
free grazing(T3), and the control (free grazing) (T4). There were significant
differences (P<0.05) in milk yield between cows fed in control and
supplemented as well as within supplemented groups. Higher (P<0.001)
significant interaction of parity with the treatment of milk yield was also
observed. Significantly (P<0.001) higher (3.10 kg/cow/day) and lower (1.95
kg/cow/day) milk yield was obtained from cows fed T2 and T4, respectively.
Except for solid not fat and lactose content all analyzed milk compositions
were significantly different (P<0.05) among treatment groups. Higher fat
(7.69%), protein (3.59%) and total solids (15.98%) and lower ash (0.73%) were
recorded from cows fed T1, T2, T4, and T3, respectively. The treatment diets
increased the net profit/cow/day by Ethiopian Birr (ETB) 16.35 (T1), 31.57 (T2),
and 13.67 (T3) over the control (T4). In conclusion, supplementation of Vachelliatortilis
pods with different feed to Borana cows on natural pasture improved milk yield,
milk composition as well as net profit. Therefore, using Vachelliatortilis
pods with different feeds as supplementation for lactating cows can be
recommended for milk production in the pastoral and agro-pastoral areas.
Keywords:
Cows,
Vachelliatortilis pods, milk composition, milk yield, protein, wheat
bran
INTRODUCTION
Feed
is the most important input in livestock production, and its adequate supply
(quantity and quality) throughout the year is an essential prerequisite for any
substantial and sustained expansion in livestock production. The major
livestock feed in the country is grazing and browsing natural pasture, crop
residues and agro-industrial by-products, and cultivated pasture and forage
crop species (Teklu, 2011).
In
arid and semi arid regions of Ethiopia, livestock is kept under an extensive
management system and depends on rangeland pastures that are often deficient in
nitrogen and digestible nutrients. These low-quality feeds reduce intake,
digestion, and utilization of nutrients. Most legume trees and shrubs have high
protein content, which makes them promising supplements and are the practical
solution to alleviate nutrient deficiencies in poor quality natural pastures (Kumar,
2011; Amata, 2014).
Among locally existing protein
enrich feed resources, tree legume forages such as Vachellia
species have an indispensable role
as protein supplements (Bayssa, 2016). Vachellia toritlisis one of the dominant Vachellia species distributed in vast areas
of South Omo, Afar and Borana rangelands and it is one of the important sources
of fodder for ruminants (Berihe et al., 2014). Vachellia tortillas browse yields about 4-6
kg dry leaf and 10-12 kg pods per year per plant (Bekele, 2007). The previous study reported by
Abdulrazak et al., (2000) indicated that the CP content and DM
digestibility of Vachellia tortilispods is about 18% and 46% respectively.
The
low land of Borana is characterized by fragile weather and degraded land
conditions and there has been a great shortage of animal feedstuffs,
particularly during the dry season. The energy and protein-rich ingredients
(mainly, cereal and oilseed products) are not available to the pastoralist
community since they are introduced from the central part of the country at
high costs compared with some of the products of locally grown trees and shrubs
like acacia plants, which are available all year round in the low land area. Vachellia tortilis pods are seasonally
available in plenty in the arid land and they are rich in protein and
digestible nutrients.
Feeding
of Vachellia tortilis pods improves
digestibility, intake, and animal performance in small ruminants. Vachellia tortilis pods using commercial
cereal milling machines available in most small rural towns and storing them as
strategic protein concentrate feed.
Vachellia tortilis feed can alleviate nutritional constraints in the dry
season, increase milk yield and sustain the body conditions of pastoral goats
in the arid rangelands, thereby improving livestock productivity and income generation
( Moses, 2014).
Therefore,
this experiment aimed to study the effect of feeding the concentrates and pods
of Vachellia tortilis on milk yield
and milk composition of Borana cows under low lands of Borana condition.
MATERIALS
AND METHODS
Location
of the study
The
study was conducted in the cool dry season for 63 days from June 29th to
August 31th 2015 at Yabello
Pastoral and Dryland Agricultural research center (YPDARC), situated
in the Borana Zone of South-west
Oromia.
The area lies at an altitude of 1668 m above sea level. The location represents
semiarid climatic conditions and receives a mean annual rainfall of about 700
mm (Hurst et al., 2012). The
average temperature of the study area is about 21.5°C ranging from 19°C to
24°C.
Experimental design and treatments
The
experimental design was a randomized complete block design (RCBD). The
experimental cows were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental
treatments in each block.
Experimental
Treatments where :
T1 = Control + Concentrate (wheat
bran + Noug cake)
T2= Control + Vachellia
tortilis pod + Wheat bran
T3=
Control + Vachellia tortilis
pod
T4
= Control (grazing)
NB:
For all treatment, common salt was
supplemented at a rate of 1%
Supplementation of either NSK or WB was
based on the milk yield performance of experimental cows. Experimental feeds
were selected based on their availability in the study area. Secondary data
were used to formulate concentrate mixtures (Gemiyo et al., 2013).
Concentrate rations were formulated based on the nutrient requirement of
lactating cows in the tropics, which is 75% TDN and 17% CP on average, and the
fact that most of the Ethiopian dry forages and roughage have a CP content of
less than 9% (mean 6.2%) (Feyissa et al., 2015). The concentrate ration
was formulated to have 51% of wheat grain, 48% of noug seed cake, and 1% salt
using the Pearson square balancing method.
Experimental animals and their management
A total of twelve Borana cows having two
parities (parity one and two) were used for this experiment. Animals with
parity one were only four and the rest were with parity two. Animals were
blocked according to their body weight. Accordingly, the experimental cows were
grouped into four groups of three animals in each block. During allocating of
animals in each block with randomization, the animals with parity one were
assigned in all bocks as chance. Therefore, there was no parity effect alone on
the milk yield of animals. All cows were de-wormed with broad-spectrum
anti-helminthics and sprayed to control internal and external parasites,
respectively before the beginning of the experiment. The feeding trial was
conducted for nine weeks including two weeks adjustment period before the
commencement of actual data collection. The quantity of supplemental diet
offered daily was at the rate of 0.25 kg/l of milk produced by each cow and
offered twice a day with equal portions at 7:00 am and 5:00 pm during the
morning and evening before milking time, respectively. During the daytime, all
experimental cows were kept on a natural pasture for approximately about 9
hours per day (8:00 to 17:00). Water was provided free choice to experimental
cows during the entire experimental period.
Feed analysis
Samples of feed offered were dried in an
oven at 105ºC for 24 hours and analyzed for nitrogen (N), dry matter (DM), and
ash according to AOAC (2005). The crude protein (CP) content was calculated by
multiplying N content with a factor of 6.25. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF),
acid detergent fiber (ADF), and acid detergent lignin (ADL) were determined by
the methods of Van Soest (1994). Hemi-cellulose content was calculated as NDF
minus ADF. The Chemical composition of experimental feeds was indicated in
(Table 1).
Table
1: Chemical composition of experimental feeds
|
Parameters |
VTP |
NC |
WB |
CONC. |
|
91.95 |
92.33 |
90.13 |
92.30 |
|
|
CP% |
18.10 |
25.60 |
17.01 |
16.50 |
|
Ash% |
6.14 |
92.33 |
4.93 |
3.80 |
|
NDF% |
39.62 |
49.13 |
48.62 |
15.50 |
|
ADF% |
33.36 |
42.06 |
16.20 |
8.90 |
|
ADL% |
7.12 |
7.10 |
3.78 |
3.77 |
|
Hem% |
6.26 |
7.07 |
32.42 |
6.60 |
Key:
NC=Noug cake VTP = Vachellia tortilis pods; DM = Dry matter; CP = Crude
protein; NDF = Neutral detergent fibre; ADF = Acid detergent fibre; ADL = Acid
detergent lignin; Hem= Hemicelluloses; CONC= Concentrate
Milk
sample and composition analysis
Sample of milk from each cow was collected
three times in five days intervals (day 2, day 7, and day 12) during the milk
data collection period. About 300 ml composite sample of milk from each cow was
collected and taken to the Ethiopian Dairy and Meat Technology Institute for
analysis. Chemical composition of milk: butterfat (BF), Crude protein (CP),
total solids (TS), and ash were determined following the standard methods (AOAC, 2005).
The fat content of the milk was estimated
using the Gerber analytical method (AOAC, 2005), and the Kjeldahl method was used to
determine the total protein content of milk (IDF standards 20B, 1993). To
determine the total solids content, the oven-drying method was used (AOAC, 2005). The solid-not fat
content was determined by subtracting the percent fat from total solids. The
total ash content was determined by igniting the dried milk samples in a muffle
furnace (AOAC, 2005).
Partial budget analysis
The economic analysis was based on the
calculation of the total cost of supplemented feeds and considering milk sales
price and labor cost incurred during the entire experimentation period. The
price of milk in Yabello district was known in the dry season to calculate the
income obtained per milk yield per day. The Partial budget analysis was
employed to compute the total cost of production /cow/day, mean kg of
milk/treatment day, cost of production/kg of milk, gross income from the sale
of milk/treatment/day, net profit/cow/day, and net profit/treatment/day.
Statistical
analysis
Data from milk yield and milk composition
were subjected to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure for RCBD (SAS,
version 9.0). Treatment means were separated using Least Significant Difference
(LSD) at α = 0.05. The statistical model used was:
Yij=μ+ai +bij+eijk
Where,
Y ij= the dependent variable (milk yield)
μ= the overall mean
aj= the effect of the ith diet
bij= block effect of
ijth parity
eijk = random variation
RESULT
AND DISCUSSION
Milk yield
The effect of dietary supplements,
parities, and interaction of parity and treatment on average daily milk yield
is presented in Tables 2, 4and 5, respectively. Results showed that
supplemented cows (T1, T2, and T3) with local and conventional feed produced
significantly higher (P<0.001)
milk yield than cows grazed on natural pasture alone (T4). It was found that a
significant difference (P<0.001)
was also observed in milk yield between supplemented cows with local and
conventional feed.
Even though T1 fed cows were expected to
perform better than those on other treatments with higher milk yield, cows
supplemented with T2 gave significantly
higher (P<0.001) milk yield than
T1, T3, and T4. This is due to a combination of wheat bran with roughage feed
can increase the milk yield by 54 % (Hussien et al., 2013). Accordingly,
cows fed T1, T2 and T3 increased milk yield by 46, 59, and 26%, respectively
compared to cows fed control only (T4). The experiment conducted on the effect
of Fogera lactating cows supplemented with different feeds revealed that cows fed
hay with concentrate and hay with wheat bran increased milk yield by 76 and
54%, respectively compared to cows fed only hay (Hussien et al., 2013).
The variation of this increment rate in milk yield compared with the present
study may be due to the difference in breed, feed resources, and agro-ecologic
zone.
Table 2: Mean
milk yield (kg/day) of Borana cows supplemented with local and conventional
feeds
|
Treatment |
Milk Yield |
|
T1 |
2.80b |
|
T2 |
3.10a |
|
T3 |
2.46c |
|
T4 |
1.95d |
|
P-value |
*** |
|
Over
all mean |
2.58 |
|
SE |
0.04 |
|
CV% |
19.69 |
Means
in the column with different superscript are significantly different at (***P<0.001); T1= Treatment 1 (Conventional concentrate + free grazing);
T2=
Treatment 2 (Vachellia tortilis pod
+ wheat bran+free grazing); T3= Treatment 3 (Vachellia tortilis pod + free
grazing); T4 = Treatment 4 (free grazing); SE= Standard Error; CV = Coefficient
of variation
In the present experiment, cows
supplemented with Vachellia pod (T3) increased milk yield by 26% compared to
cows fed control (T4) feed. It was observed that the Vachellia pod has the
potential to increase milk yield when supplemented with a cow. Milk yield was
significantly (P<0.001) lower in
the first parity cows than in cows in the second parity (Table 3). It was stated
that milk yield was lower in the first parity than other next parity and tended
to increase until the fifth parity and then decrease (Jemila et
al., 2012).
Table 3: Parity effect on milk yield of Borana cows supplemented with local and conventional feeds
|
Parity |
Milk Yield ±SE |
|
PAR1 |
2.25±0.03b |
|
PAR2 |
2.74±0.02a |
|
P-value |
*** |
Means in the column with different
superscripts are significantly different at (***P<0.001); PAR1=
Parity one; PAR2= Parity two, SE= Standard Error;
Table 4: Mean milk yield (kg/day) of interaction between treatment and parity of Borana cows
|
Factors |
Label |
Milk Yield ±SE |
|
Parity*Treatment |
PAR1*
T1 |
2.65±0.06c |
|
PAR1*
T2 |
2.76±0.06bc |
|
|
PAR1*
T3 |
1.73±0.06e |
|
|
PAR1*
T4 |
1.85±0.06de |
|
|
PAR2*
T1 |
2.88±0.04b |
|
|
PAR2*
T2 |
3.27±0.04a |
|
|
PAR2*
T3 |
2.83±0.04b |
|
|
PAR2*
T4 |
2.00±0.04d |
|
|
P-value |
|
*** |
Means in the column with different
superscript are significantly different at (***P<0.001); PAR1= Parity
one; PAR2= Parity two, SE= Standard Error, PAR*T= Interaction between parity
and treatment; T1= Treatment 1 (conventional concentrate + free grazing); T2= Treatment 2 (Vachellia tortilispod + wheat bran free grazing); T3=
Treatment 3 (Vachellia
tortilis pod + free grazing); T4 = Treatment 4
(free grazing); SE= Standard Error; CV = Coefficient of variation
The finding of this study also showed milk
yield of the experimental cows was significantly (P<0.001) affected by an interaction between parity and treatment
(Table 5). Higher milk yield was recorded from the interaction of parity2
with T2, whereas lower milk yield was obtained from the interaction of parity1
with T3, parity1 with T4, and parity2 with T4. Moreover,
intermediate results of milk yield were recorded from the interaction of pariy1
with T1, parity1 with T2, parity2 with T1, and parity2
with T3.
Milk
composition
The
mean values of milk fat, protein, solid not fat (SNF), ash, total solids (TS),
and lactose are indicated in Table 5. Except for SNF and lactose content, all
analyzed milk compositions were significantly (P<0.05) different. Cows fed T4 gave a significantly higher (P<0.001) milk fat than cows fed T1,
T2, and T3. This is since, Rations with more concentrates may
result in changes in the proportion of ruminal VFA, which in turn can result in
the reduction of milk fat in T1 and T2. But the difference between T3 and T4 in
fat percent might be due to the
type of forage and its effect on milk fat percentage is influenced by forage
particle size, maturity, and fiber content of the forage. A significantly lower (P<0.01) content of milk protein was obtained from cows fed T4
than from cows fed T1, T2, and T3. This is due to cows grazing on poor pasture
which had lower protein percentages. A significantly lower (P<0.05) milk ash and a significantly
higher (P<0.01) TS was observed
from cows fed T4. In the present study higher mean of milk fat, protein, ash,
and TS were recorded compared to Fogera cows fed on different treatments
reported by Hussien et al., (2013),
who found 5.01, 3.07, 0.70, and 14.23 milk fat, protein, ash, and TS,
respectively. However, in this experiment, a lower grand mean SNF of milk was
obtained compared to an earlier report by Hussien et al., (2013) that stated 9.22% SNF of milk.
Table 5: Chemical composition of milk of Borana cows supplemented
with local and conventional feeds
|
Treatment |
Fat g/100g |
Protein g/100g |
SNF g/100g |
Ash g/100g |
TS g/100g |
Lactose g/100g |
|
T1 |
6.92bc |
3.59a |
8.64 |
0.79a |
15.55b |
4.25 |
|
T2 |
6.83c |
3.52b |
8.45 |
0.80a |
15.28b |
4.13 |
|
T3 |
7.05b |
3.57ab |
8.51 |
0.78a |
15.56b |
4.15 |
|
T4 |
7.69a |
3.47c |
8.27 |
0.73b |
15.98a |
4.08 |
|
P-value |
*** |
** |
NS |
* |
** |
NS |
|
Grand mean |
7.12 |
3.54 |
8.47 |
0.78 |
15.59 |
4.15 |
|
SE |
0.04 |
0.01 |
0.06 |
0.01 |
0.07 |
0.08 |
|
CV% |
0.76 |
0.51 |
1.00 |
1.82 |
0.64 |
2.57 |
Means in the column along treatments
with different superscript are significantly different at (*P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001). T1= Treatment 1 (Wheat bran + oil seed cake + free grazing), T2= Treatment 2 (Vachellia tortilispod + wheat bran free grazing), T3=
Treatment 3 (Vachellia
tortilispod + free grazing), T4 = Treatment 4 (free grazing), SE= Standard
Error and CV = Coefficient of variation, SNF= solid non fat, TS= total solids
It
was stated that breeds and individuality of the cow, as well as environmental
effects, show obvious differences in their milk composition and yield.
Differences among individuals are often greater than differences within breeds
(Mosu et al., 2013). Such differences are due to breed, parity,
lactation stage, and environmental factors. The milk from indigenous cows
contains 6.1% fat, 3.3% protein, 4.5% lactose, and 0.7% ash (Mosu et al.,
2013).
An economic evaluation of treatment feeds
The
cost of grazing for the control group was not considered; while the total cost
of production was considered since other variable costs (medicaments) were the
same for the entire treatment groups. The gross profit from the sale of milk
per treatment per day increased from 58.44 ETB to 84.00, 93.00, and 73.8 ETB
/cow/day in T1, T2, and T3, respectively. The net profit increased from ETB
58.44/cow/day in T4 to ETB 74.85/cow/day in T1; ETB 90.07/cow/day in T2 and ETB
72.17 in T3 (Table 6).
Table 6: An economic evaluation of
experimental feeds fed to lactating Borana cows
|
Costs and benefits |
T1 |
T2 |
T3 |
T4 |
|
Cost of Vachellia
tortilis pods (ETB) |
- |
252.00 |
252.00 |
- |
|
Cost of noug seed cake
(ETB) |
487.62 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Cost of wheat bran |
319.41 |
319.41 |
- |
- |
|
Cost of concentrate |
807.03 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Total variable cost
(ETB) |
4842.18 |
1714.23 |
0.00 |
0 |
|
Cost /cow/experimental
period (ETB) |
1614.06 |
571.41 |
252.00 |
0 |
|
Cost/cow/day (ETB) |
25.62 |
9.07 |
4.00 |
0 |
|
Mean kg of milk per
treatment per day |
2.80 |
3.10 |
2.46 |
1.95 |
|
Cost /cow/kg of milk
(ETB) |
9.15 |
2.93 |
1.63 |
0.00 |
|
Gross income from sale
of milk/treatment/day (ETB)* |
84.00 |
93.00 |
73.80 |
58.50 |
|
Net profit (ETB) |
74.85 |
90.07 |
72.17 |
58.50 |
|
Net profit over the
control/treatment/day (ETB) |
16.35 |
31.57 |
13.67 |
- |
*The
average price per liter of milk fixed at 30 ETB (Ethiopian Birr) during dry
season; T1 = (wheat bran + Noug seed cake); T2 = (Vachelliatortilis +
Wheat bran), T3 = (Vachelliatortilis+Control); T4 = Control group
Hence, this study demonstrated that feeding
the local and conventional diets to local milk cows increased the net profit
for pastoralists to ETB 16.35/cow/day (T1), ETB 31.57/cow/day (T2), and ETB
13.67 /cow/day (T3) over the control (T4) group. The higher net profit gained
from feeding (Vachellia tortilis +
wheat bran) (T2) is an advantage for smallholder pastoralists who have better
access to these Vachellia tortilis
pods. This higher net profit gained might be because a higher milk yield per
day was recorded from cows fed Vachellia
tortilis pods with wheat bran supplementation than other feed treatments.
CONCLUSIONS
Supplementation of Borana cows
maintained on natural grass pasture with local (Vachelliatortilis
and wheat bran) and conventional feed has significantly improved milk yield, milk
composition (fat, protein, total solids), and net profit than the control
group. Vachellia tortilis pods are local feed ingredients having the
potential to replace the conventional protein sources in concentrate mixture
for lactating cows.
RECOMMENDATIONS
·
Supplementation of
Vachellia tortilis pods with
wheat bran to cows was recommended since it gave higher milk yield and economic
returns.
·
Therefore,
pastoralists and agro-pastoralists can use Vachellia tortilis pods with wheat bran on poor pasture,
especially during the dry season for improving milk production.
·
Additional trials
should be investigated on processed Vachellia tortilis pods than when fed whole on the animal
performances.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful
to Oromia Agricultural Research Institute (OARI) for financing this research
project. Yabello Pastoral and Dryland Agriculture Research Center are highly
appreciated for providing facilities to conduct the research.
CONFLICTS
OF INTEREST
The authors declare no
conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
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