The objective of this trial was to study the effects of different forms of concentrate processing on intake, apparent total tract digestibility of nutrients, ruminal degradability of DM and CP, and milk yield and composition. Sixteen dairy cows, pure Holstein and crossbred, were blocked by production level (30.0 and 20.0 kg/day) and randomly assigned to two Latin squares with four periods of 15 days each. Diets were isonitrogenous and contained the following forage (corn silage):concentrate ratios: 50:50 and 60:40 (% of DM) for cows yielding 30.0 and 20.0 kg of milk/day, respectively. Apparent total tract digestibility of DM was not affected by the different forms of concentrate processing while apparent CP digestibility for cows fed extruded concentrate (72.36%) was lower than that for cows fed grounded concentrate at a forage:concentrate ratio of 50:50. Apparent total tract digestibility of neutral detergent fiber (44,35%) was lower (P<0.05) for cows fed extruded concentrate at the lowest forage:concentrate. Milk yield was higher for cows fed the extruded diet (29.9 kg/day), at the greatest concentrate level, but no significant differences were observed for cows at the lowest (60:40) concentrate level.
bovine; nutrition; ruminant
