Effects of dietary Zeolite supplementation on milk yield and composition and blood minerals status in lactating dairy cows

Figures & data

Table 1. Quantities of food (kg/cow/day) distributed to control and experimental groups before and after calving.

Feed	Before calving		After calving
	Control	Experimental	Control	Experimental
N (cows)	21	21	21	21
Concentrate (kg/cow/d)	6	6	12	12
Zeolite^a (g/cow/d)	0	200	0	200
Oat hay (kg/cow/d)	6	6	4	4
Oat silage (kg/cow/d)	0	0	15	15
Alfalfa pellets (kg/cow/d)	1	1	1	1

^aThe Zeolite was mixed with the concentrate.

Table 2. Ingredients, chemical composition and nutrient values of concentrate of control and experimental diets used in this study.

Item
Ingredients (%)
Barley grain	19
Corn grain	49
Soybean meal	27
Premix (mineral/vitamin)	5
Chemical composition (% CM) ^a
DM	87.5
OM	79.7
NDF	12.0
ADF	4.3
CP	17.6
EE	2.6
Ca	2.1
P	1.4
Nutritional value ^b
UFL (/kg CM)	0.98
PDIN (g/kg CM)	129
PDIE (g/kg CM)	118

^aCrude matter.

^bEstimated from INRA Tables (2007).

Table 3. Chemical composition and nutrient values of forages used in cow diet.

	Oat hay^a	Oat silage^a	Alfalfa pellets^a
Composition (% of DM)
DM^b	90.5	26.4	90.3
OM^c	91.5	88.8	89.0
NDF^d	58.0	53.5	42.6
ADF^e	36.4	34.2	31.9
CP^f	9.1	8.2	17.3
EE^g	2.2	4.0	2.5
Ca	0.34	0.62	1.86
P	0.22	0.25	0.28
Nutritional value
UFL^h (/kg DM)	0.55	0.72	0.72
PDIN^i (g/kg DM)	30	63	115
PDIE^j (g/kg DM)	50	56	95

^aEstimated from INRA Tables (2007), Nefzaoui and Chermiti (1989) and Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cattle 7th revised edition (2001).

^bDry matter.

^cOrganic matter.

^dNeutral detergent fibre.

^eAcid detergent fibre.

^fCrude protein.

^gEther extract.

^hForage unit for lactation.

ⁱDigestible protein in the small intestine supplied by microbial protein from rumen-degradable protein (INRA 2007).

^jDigestible protein in the small intestine supplied by microbial protein from rumen-fermented OM (INRA 2007).

Table 4. Milk and blood parameters from cows on each treatment.

Item	Group			Statistic (P-value)
	CG	EG	SEM	Group	Period	Group × Period
Milk parameters
Milk yield (kg/d)	21.54	23.72	0.34	. 001	. 000	. 005
FCM^a	19.30	21.35	0.31	. 001	. 000	. 007
Milk total solids (%)	11.88	12.01	0.54	.456	. 000	.990
Milk fat (g/kg)	29.09	29.47	1.10	.273	. 000	.988
Milk fat (kg/d)	0.62	0.68	0.01	. 001	. 000	. 018
Milk protein (g/kg)	28.31	28.46	0.99	.638	. 000	.995
Milk protein (kg/d)	0.61	0.68	0.01	. 001	. 000	. 004
Lactose (g/kg)	43.07	43.09	0.15	.963	.624	.999
Lactose (kg/d)	0.93	1.02	0.10	. 002	. 000	. 006
Milk ash (g/kg)	7.99	8.13	1.06	.706	. 076	.998
Milk Ca (mg/kg)	1166.2	1168.6	12.0	.923	.400	.990
Milk P (mg/kg)	946.6	951.5	13.7	.861	.427	.988
Milk Mg (mg/kg)	119.8	118.2	1.0	.428	.988	.479
Blood parameters
Plasma Ca (mg/L)	91.20	94.59	3.77	. 002	. 000	. 001
Plasma P (mg/L)	66.01	68.72	9.38	.356	. 087	.840
Plasma Mg (mg/L)	20.50	20.78	1.80	.622	. 000	.763

Note: CG = Control group; EG = Experimental group; SEM = Standard error of mean.

^aCalculated as (0.432 × milk yield) + (16.23 × milk fat yield).

Figure 1. Mean milk yield in Zeolite-treated cows (EG) and untreated control cows (CG).

Note: NS, nonsignificant; **P < .01.

Figure 2. Mean milk fat content in Zeolite-treated cows (EG) and untreated control cows (CG).

Note: NS, nonsignificant.

Figure 3. Mean milk protein content in Zeolite-treated cows (EG) and untreated control cows (CG).

Note: NS, nonsignificant.

Figure 4. Mean milk Ca content in Zeolite-treated cows (EG) and untreated control cows (CG).

Note: NS, nonsignificant.

Figure 5. Mean milk P content in Zeolite-treated cows (EG) and untreated control cows (CG).

Note: NS, nonsignificant.

Figure 6. Mean milk Mg content in Zeolite-treated cows (EG) and untreated control cows (CG).

NS, nonsignificant.

Figure 7. Mean plasma Ca in Zeolite-treated cows (EG) and untreated control cows (CG).

Notes: The solid horizontal lines indicate the upper and lower limit of the reference interval. NS, nonsignificant; **P < .01; ***P < .001.

Figure 8. Mean plasma P in Zeolite treated cows (EG) and untreated control cows (CG).

Notes: The solid horizontal lines indicate the upper and lower limit of the reference interval. NS, nonsignificant.

Figure 9. Mean plasma Mg in Zeolite-treated cows (EG) and untreated control cows (CG).

Notes: The solid horizontal lines indicate the upper and lower limit of the reference interval. NS, nonsignificant.

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