Effects of dietary supplementation with urea molasses multi-nutrient block on performance of mid lactating local Ethiopian and crossbred dairy cows

摘要

Anexperimentwasconductedonstation,usinganesteddesigninordertoevaluatetheeffectsofaUreaMolassesMulti-NutrientBlock(UMMB)supplementationoftypicaldryseason,roughagebaseddietsontheperformanceofmidlactatinglocalFogeraandtheirF1HolsteinFriesiancrossesinEthiopia.Eightcowseachfrombothbreedswereassignedtoaforage-basedcontroldietandanexperimentaldietwithUMMBsupplementation.Highlysignificantdifferenceswereobservedbetweentreatmentsformostproductiontraits.However,Fogeraandcrossbreddairycowsshowedadifferentresponsepatternforsometraits.CrossbreddairycowsweresuperioroverFogeraformilkproduction,reproductiveperformanceandbenefit-costratioregardlessofUMMBsupplementation.Conversely,FogeracowshadhighermilksolidcontentsandsupplementingthemwithUMMBhadagreatereffectonmilkfatthanincrossbredcows.ItisconcludedthatsupplementingdairycowswithUMMBduringthedryseasonisbasicallyahelpfulmeasuretomaintainproduction.DependingontheavailabilityofUMMB,priorityinsupplementationhowever,shouldbegiventocowswithahighgeneticpotentialformilkproduction.