Performance and silage inclusion of oat forage (Avena sativa L.) AV25 in diets for dairy cattle (Bos primigenius Taurus)

Abstract

Introduction. The use of forage oat silage (Avena sativa L.) in dairy cattle in times of feed deficit, allows mitigating biomass losses due to drought in the Colombian high tropics. Objectives. 1) To determine the dry matter yield (DMY) of five forage oat genotypes and the phenotypic stability and the bromatological quality of their silage, and 2) to evaluate the inclusion of the AV25-T genotype silage in diets for dairy cattle. Materials and methods. In the Colombian high tropics two experiments were performed: 1) agronomic evaluation test (October 2017 and February 2018) in a randomized complete block design with five genotypes, eight locations, and four replicates; dry matter yield (DMY) and protein, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) contents in silage were determined, and 2) animal response study (January 2018) with the inclusion of the AV25-T genotype in diets, in a simple crossover design with two factors: animal (5) and diets (3); the diets were: D1: only meadow; D2: 35 % AV25-T silage + grazing, and D3: 65 % AV25-T silage + grazing. Milk yield, protein, fat, total solids, were determined in the milk, and weight change was determined in the animals. Results. AV25-T presented adaptation with the highest DMY. The inclusion of AV25-T silage in the animal diet showed a significant change in animal weight (0.1 and 0.25 kg with D2 and D3), milk yield (27.2 - 29.7 L/cow/day with D3 and D2), and the fat content (3.2 - 3.9 % with D3 and D2), without detriment in protein and total solids. Conclusion. The use of AV25-T forage oats in silage allowed increases in animal weight, milk yield, and fat content in Holstein dairy cows without affecting protein and total solids in milk.