<b>Sugar cane fresh or ensiled with or without bacterial additive in diets for dairy cows

Abstract

This study evaluated the effect of using fresh sugar cane, sugar cane silage with or without Lactobacillus buchneri, and burnt sugar cane silage with or without L. buchneri on ingestive behavior, nitrogen balance and synthesis of microbial nitrogen compounds of dairy cows. Five ¾ Holstein x Gir crossbred cows, assigned to a 5 x 5 Latin square design, were given diets with a 60:40 forage: concentrate ratio on a dry matter basis, to meet an average body weight of 550 kg and production of 15 kg of milk per day. The treatment with fresh sugar cane showed higher values (p 0.05) the nitrogen intake and balance, but led to a greater (p 0.05), and showed an average value of 204.32 g microbial crude protein kg-1 total digestible nutrients.

Keywords

• Lactobacillus buchneri
• microbial synthesis
• nitrogen balance
• Saccharum officinarum