BRIEF COMMUNICATION: The effect of palm kernel expeller as a supplement for grazing dairy cows at the end of lactation

摘要

Palm kernel expeller (PKE) is a solid byproduct from the palm oil. In New Zealand it is used as a supplementary feed on dairy farms to fill short term pasture deficits and according to MAF (2007), over 350,000 tonnes of PICE was imported into New Zealand during 2007. Despite its growing use as a feedstuff for ruminants in New Zealand, information is scarce about the nutritional value of PKE and its effects on milk production when it is incorporated into the diet of pasture grazing ruminants. Overseasresearch has shown that PKE has a variable nutritional value (O'Mara et al., 1999), and has no effect on milk production when fed to grazing cows fed corn silage and a concentrate (Davison et al., 1994), or cows fed a total mixed ration (Carvalho et al., 2006). The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of different amounts of PKE on the milk production of dairy cows grazing pasture in late lactation.