Inclusion of Wheat Dried Distillers’ Grains with Solubles from Bioethanol Plants in Diets for Dairy Cows

Garnsworthy, Philip C.; Marsden, Michael; Goodman, Jennifer R.; Saunders, Neil

Abstract

Dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS) from bioethanol production can replace soya in diets for dairy cows, but optimum inclusion level of European wheat-DDGS (wDDGS) is unknown. Two batches of wDDGS from different UK bioethanol plants were fed to 44 (Experiment 1) and 40 (Experiment 2) cows in a Latin square design. Each wDDGS replaced soya and rapeseed at four inclusion levels (g/kg of diet dry matter (DM): 0, 80, 160 and 240 – Experiment 1; 0, 75, 150 and 225 – Experiment 2). Diets were balanced for metabolisable energy (ME) and protein (MP), and for minimum starch and saturated fat in Experiment 2. In Experiment 1, DM intake (29 kg/d) and milk yield (42.3 kg/d) were unaffected by wDDGS inclusion up to 160 g/kg but were lower than control with 240 g/kg inclusion, which was attributed to low proportion of solubles in this wDDGS batch. In Experiment 2, DM intake (22.4 kg/d) and milk yield (32.1 kg/d) were unaffected by wDDGS inclusion up to 225 g/kg. ME content of wDDGS, determined in vivo, (MJ/kg DM) was 12.1 (Experiment 1) and 13.4 (Experiment 2). It is concluded that optimum inclusion level of wDDGS is at least 225 g/kg DM in diets balanced for minimum starch and saturated fat as well as ME and MP supplies.

Citation

Garnsworthy, P. C., Marsden, M., Goodman, J. R., & Saunders, N. (2021). Inclusion of Wheat Dried Distillers’ Grains with Solubles from Bioethanol Plants in Diets for Dairy Cows. Animals, 11(1), Article 70. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11010070

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 30, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jan 2, 2021
• Publication Date: Jan 2, 2021
• Deposit Date: Dec 30, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 4, 2021
• Journal: Animals
• Electronic ISSN: 2076-2615
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 70
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11010070
• Keywords: dairy cow; milk production; protein feeds; wheat-based dried distillers grains with solubles
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5183902
• Publisher URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/1/70
• Additional Information: This article belongs to the Special Issue - Use of Cereal Byproducts in Animal Nutrition