The effect of the whole cottonseed on dairy cows performance fed forage cactus (Opuntia ficus indica Mill.) diet was evaluated. Experiment was made with five Holstein cows, in a 50-days lactation, which were placed into a 5x5 latin square design. The whole cottonseed was added as a partial replacement of sorghum silage and soybean meal, in a level of 0, 6.25, 12.50, 18.75, and 25.00% of dry matter. It was observed that addition of whole cottonseed increased the dry matter, ether extract, total digestible nutrients, calcium and phosphorus intake, but did not affect the crude protein and neutral detergent fiber intake. Also, it increased the fat corrected milk yield 3.5% (26.53 to 31.68 kg per day) and the fat milk yield (0.86 to 1.09 kg per day), but did not affect the noncorrected milk yield (31.19 kg per day), milk fat content (3.19%) and feed efficiency (1.31 kg of fat corrected milk per kilogram of dry matter intake). The results suggest that addition of the whole cottonseed in up to 25% of dry matter improves the Holstein cows performance.
concentrate; energy; forage; fiber; protein; semi-arid
