Eight Jersey cows with an average live weight of 420 kg, yielding around 20 kg of 3.5% FCM in early lactation (around the peak of lactation) were used in a trial whose objectives were to evaluate rice bran as fat source associated with oil or tallow in iso-proteic, iso-fibrous and iso-lipidic diets on the apparent digestibility of nutrients. Four treatments were used: CON concentrate without fat addition; BPF- concentrate with "by pass" fat; RBO- concentrate with rice bran + rice oil; RBT- concentrate with rice bran + tallow. The concentrate was made of corn meal and soybean meal. Corn silage and alfalfa hay in a ratio of 1:1 in dry matter basis were fed ad libitum and kept in a ratio to the concentrate of 55:45%, respectively. Concentrates were fed three times a day. Two 4 x 4 latin squares with 4-wk period were used and the means were compared by the F-test. The apparent digestibility coefficient for dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber and nonfibrous carbohydrates was not affected by the fat sources. Rice bran can be used as fat source up to 6% of crude fat in diet for cows in early lactation.
"by pass" fat; digestibility; rice bran + oil; rice brain + tallow
