Use of former food products in dairy buffalo nutrition: In vitro and in vivo evaluation

AbstractA feeding strategy that maintains high content of functional molecules in buffalo milk has been verified by givingSorghum vulgare as green fodder, but it is not available all year round. The aim of this study was to evaluate the inclusion of former food products (FFPs) containing 87% biscuit meal (nonstructural carbohydrate: 60.1%; starch 14.7;  crude protein 10.6), in the diet of buffaloes in terms of: (a) fermentation characteristics through gas production technique; (b) milk yield (MY) and quality; (c) content of some biomolecules and total antioxidant activity. The experiment was performed involving 50 buffaloes divided into two group s: Green group and FFPs group (animals fed Total Mixed Ration with either green forage or FFPs respectively). Daily MY was recorded and milk qualitative analyses were determined monthly for 90 days. Furthermore, fermentation characteristics of the diets were studied in vitro. No significant differen ces were recorded in feed intake, BCS and MY and quality. Similar in vitro fermentation data of two diets were found, with slight differences in terms of gas production and degradability. During the incubation, kinetic parameters showed a faster fermentation process with the diet of the FFPs group i n relation to Green group (p <  0.05). Green group had higher levels (p <  0.01) of γ-butyrobetaine, glycine betaine,l-carnitine and propionyll-carnitine in milk, whereas no differences were observed for δ-valerobetaine and ac...
Source: Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition - Category: Zoology Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research