Carbohydrate Nutrition for Lactating Dairy Cattle
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
College of Agricultural Sciences • Cooperative Extension Carbohydrate nutrition for lactating dairy cattle Virginia Ishler and Gabriella Varga Department of Dairy and Animal Science The Pennsylvania State University 324 Henning Building University Park, PA 16802 (814) 865-5491 • FAX (814) 865-7442 www.das.psu.edu/teamdairy/ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Topics include: Introduction Plant carbohydrates Carbohydrate digestibility Formulating rations for carbohydrates Carbohydrate deficiencies and excesses Tables __________________________________________________________________________________________ DAS 01-29 (Replaces 93-2 Using NDF to Set Forage Intakes) INTRODUCTION _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Carbohydrates (CHO) are the major source of In order for high producing dairy cattle to meet energy for rumen microorganisms and the single their high-energy demands, feeding diets containing largest component (60-70%) of a dairy cow’s diet. amounts of concentrates and high quality forages are They represent the major component of net energy for necessary, usually at the expense of fiber intake. support of maintenance and milk production. However, adequate levels of fiber are required to Carbohydrate nutrition influences the composition of maintain normal rumen function and milk fat milk as precursors for lactose, fat and protein. percentage. There are two broad classifications of CHO: Achieving an optimum balance between structural structural and nonstructural. The structural CHO and nonstructural CHO in dairy cattle rations is a consist of elements found in the plant cell wall. The challenge faced by nutritionists. This fact sheet will nonstructural CHO are located inside the cells of examine the limitations of laboratory analysis plants and are usually more digestible than the methods for predicting forage quality, what the structural CHO. Defining the cow’s requirement for different components are that make up CHO and the CHO requires knowledge of many interacting effect farm management practices have on CHO nutrients within the diet as well as feed allocation, nutrition. processing and presentation. PLANT CARBOHYDRATES _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Figure 1 illustrates the composition of plant like cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin are measured CHO. The structural or cell wall material contains by NDF. Acid detergent fiber measures lignin and cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, pectic substances and cellulose. Even though pectins are a part of the cell b-glucans. The cell contents contain starches, sugars, wall, they are considered a nonstructural CHO and fructans and for ensiled feeds, organic acids. because compared to hemicellulose, the rumen The most common measures of fiber analysis are microorganisms completely and rapidly ferment the acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber pectin. Table 1 lists the partition of fiber fractions for (NDF). The structural components in the plant various forages. Table 2 lists the nonstructural CHO of several feeds. Figure 1. Structural and nonstructural carbohydrates of plants. Plant Carbohydrates Cell contents Cell wall Organic Sugars Starches Fructans Pectins Hemicellulose Cellulose acids B-glucans Galactans ADF Neutral Detergent NDF Soluble Fiber Neutral Detergent Soluble CHO _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DAS 01-29 Carbohydrate Nutrition for Lactating Dairy Cattle 1 PLANT CARBOHYDRATES, CONT. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Analytical procedures for NDF incubated in rumen fluid for 30 hours. The assumption is that this represents the NDF digested in Wet chemistry analysis for ADF and NDF are the rumen of higher producing cows with moderately based on the differential solubility of plant fast rumen turnover. Currently the system provides an components. The NDF concentration of a feed is endpoint value for in vitro digestible NDF. measured by refluxing the sample in a buffered As with any procedure there are several factors, solution (pH 7) that contains detergent. Water and which could affect results. They include the dilution detergent soluble compounds are removed. Included in of the ruminal inoculum, type of buffer used, particle this residue are sugars, lipids, some ash, non-protein size of the sample, type of mill used for grinding and nitrogen and some protein. However, variable type of diet the donor cow is fed. amounts of ash and protein can remain with the NDF. It may be difficult to make any meaningful Ash contamination can contribute up to four interpretation on one in vitro NDF digestibility value. percentage units to the NDF value. Ideally, both ADF Table 3 illustrates the variation in NDF and NDF and NDF should be expressed on an ash-free basis. digestibility of forages grown in the Northeast. To Soil is often the culprit in mineral contamination. understand how these values influence animal There have been several modifications to the performance in a particular farm situation almost analytical procedure for NDF. The first was the requires several in vitro tests throughout the year and inclusion of heat-stable amylase in the procedure to on a yearly basis. Digestibility of forage fiber remove starch. The other was the use of sodium components varies due to hybrids, maturity, sulfite to minimize protein contamination. Currently temperature, moisture, fertilization, fermentation and the reference method adopted by the National Forage processing methods. Testing Association and which reflects the NDF One disadvantage with the in vitro procedure is values listed in the 2001 NRC for dairy cattle is the using a dry, ground sample. This may decrease the amylase-sulfite procedure. difference between samples or result in higher There is some controversy over the use of sulfite digestibilities than unground wet samples. in the standard procedure for NDF determination. Adding sulfite to the NDF solution reduces crude Nonstructural CHO protein contamination but does not quantitatively remove all of it. Using sodium sulfite in the NDF The more readily digestible CHO are not procedure is discouraged if the residues are to be recovered in the NDF. The nonfiber CHO (NFC) assayed for neutral detergent insoluble protein. Sulfite includes sugars, starches and the other reserve CHO also attacks lignin and should not be used in a such as galactans and pectins. The NFC for feeds is sequential analysis for lignin or for subsequent in calculated by difference: vitro digestion. 100 – (%NDF + % crude protein + % fat + % ash) or Whenever samples are sent out for analysis, 100 –[(%NDF-NDFCP) + % crude protein + % fat + % scrutinize both ADF and NDF values. In addition to ash) ash and protein inflating NDF, feeds with lipid contents greater than 10% can be a problem and some NDFCP is the neutral detergent insoluble crude kinds of samples offer filtering problems. protein. The first equation is most commonly used, the second equation is preferred because it corrects In vitro NDF digestibility for crude protein in the NDF. The nonstructural CHO or NSC is measured by enzymatic methods and The in vitro NDF digestibility procedure is done includes only starch and sugars. in a test tube. Small amounts of dry, ground samples The concentrations of NFC and NSC in many are incubated with ruminal fluid and buffer in a feeds are not equal and the terms should not be used temperature-controlled system. Most labs look at interchangeably (Table 4). Much of the difference is NDF digestibility after the sample has been caused by the contribution of pectin and organic acids. Pectin is included in NFC but not in NSC. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DAS 01-29 Carbohydrate Nutrition for Lactating Dairy Cattle 2 PLANT CARBOHYDRATES, CONT. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ When using the enzymatic method to measure carbohydrates (NDSC) or the CHO fractions NSC, sucrose and fructans appear in the starch excluding hemicellulose and cellulose (Figure2). The fraction. This applies mainly to forage, particularly system uses an extraction with 80% ethanol to grasses, as they contain little if any starch. separate low molecular weight sugars and organic Sucrose is found in beet and citrus pulp and probably acids from the starch and nonstarch polysaccharides. some other byproducts. For these feeds, the total The sugars are measured directly in the ethanol sugar and starch is likely all sugar. For corn