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Effect of Form of Alfalfa When Fed as the Sole Source of Roughage to Guernsey Cows on the Carotenoid and Vitamin A Content of Milk¹

Animal Industries Department, Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station

Geoffrey Beall

Mathematics Department, University of Connecticut, Storrs

L. A. Moore

Bureau of Dairy Industry, U.S.D.A., Washington, D.C.

ABSTRACT

The effect of feeding artificially-dried and chopped, artificially-dried and pelleted, and field-cured and field-baled forms of alfalfa as the sole source of roughage on the carotenoid and vitamin A content of the milk was studied using 18 Guernsey cows in a double change-over design. During the feeding of the chopped form, carotenoid and vitamin A concentration of the milk and of the milk fat, as well as total amounts of these constituents secreted, were found to be significantly greater than those for the field-baled and pelleted forms of the alfalfa. Although the carotenoid intake when feeding the pelleted form was of approximately the same magnitude as that for the chopped form and more than seven times greater than that for the field-baled form, the carotenoid and vitamin A content of the milk was less than that observed for the chopped form and approximately the same as that for the field-baled. Apparent mammary transfer of the ingested carotenoids was least during the feeding of the pelleted form of alfalfa and greatest for the field-baled form. The estimated vitamin A content of the butter as calculated from the carotenoid intakes during the feeding of each form of the alfalfa was approximately similar to the observed values for the chopped form, considerably lower for the pelleted form, and higher for the field-baled form.

¹ This study was made in part with funds provided by the Chas. M. Cox Co., Boston, Mass., and by the Research and Marketing Act of 1946 through a contract between the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station and the Bureau of Dairy Industry. These data are in part from a thesis submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Connecticut by the senior author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.S. degree.

² Present address: Dairy Husbandry Department, Pennsylvania State University, State College.