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Composition and Nutritive Value of Dehydrated Alfalfa for Lactating Dairy Cows

Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada S7N 0W0

ABSTRACT

The composition of 85 samples of dehydrated alfalfa grown in the northern agricultural region of Saskatchewan was determined. Differences in composition of dehydrated alfalfa between processing plants were small, and although differences of acid detergent fiber-nitrogen were significant, percent acid detergent fiber-nitrogen in the dry matter was not greater than .22%. Differences between cuttings were also minor.

Dehydrated alfalfa was used to replace 3 or 6 kg of concentrate in rations of lactating dairy cows where half of the ration consisted of oat silage or brome-alfalfa hay. Milk yield and milk fat percentage increased slightly from feeding 6 kg of dehydrated alfalfa, and feed intake also increased. Rumen bacteria, numbers of protozoa, and total volatile fatty acids were not altered by dehydrated alfalfa when oat silage was the major forage. Feed per 100 kg of 4% fat-corrected milk was not affected by replacement of concentrate with dehydrated alfalfa. Feeding relatively high percentages of dehydrated alfalfa (25% of ration dry matter) and total forage (75% of ration dry matter) maintained milk yield and body weight.