Ingestive behavior of pastured crossbred dairy cows offered different supplement types.
The aim of this study was to assess the effect of different supplements on the behavior variables of crossbred dairy cows that were in pasture that comprised two 4 × 4 Latin squares (four periods, four treatments, and four animals). Each experimental period lasted 15 days (10 days to adapt animals to treatments and 5 days for data collection). The animals were supplemented twice a day, with different forage (corn silage and cactus pear) and concentrate sources (soy mea + wheat meal + corn meal + cotton seed together and soy meal as a single constituent of the concentrate). A significant difference (p < 0.10) was observed for the percentage of time spent consuming the supplement and for idleness, rumination, and bite rate at the time of supplementation. The supplement intake period was greater for the cactus pear-based supplements due to the lower dry matter content. Those based on corn silage resulted in longer rumination periods than those consisting of cactus pear; however, the opposite was observed for supplements based on the cactus, which showed higher percentages of time for idleness. The supplementation influenced the ingestive behavior of crossbred dairy cows.
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zootecnia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE), Rua Dom Manoel de Medeiros, s/n, Dois Irmãos, 52171-900, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. amdpm@hotmail.com
Aline Medeiros de Paula
AM
Mendes
Dulciene Karla de Andrade
DK
Silva
Marcelo de Andrade
Mde A
Ferreira
Antonia Sherlânea Chaves
AS
Veras
Geane Dias Gonçalves
GD
Ferreira
Ricardo Brauer
RB
Vigoderis
Helton Gregory Santos
HG
Arcanjo
Jarbas Miguel
JM
Silva
Josimar Santos
JS
de Almeida
Anna Christine Alencar
AC
Fotius
Glébio de Almeida
Gde A
Farias
D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D001947:Breeding / Q000379:methods*; D002417:Cattle; D003612:Dairying / Q000379:methods*; D019587:Dietary Supplements / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004063:Digestion / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D019370:Observation; D029747:Opuntia; D012820:Silage; D013997:Time Factors