Production performance and metabolic characteristics of cows fed whole plant faba bean silage in comparison with barley and corn silage

Abstract

This study aims to determine the effect of partial (50% and 75%) and complete (100%) replacement of barley and corn silage with whole plant faba bean silage on milk production, feed intake and efficiency, digestibility, and rumen fermentation characteristics of high producing cows. A repeated 4 × 4 Latin square (early lactating cows: four cannulated and four non-cannulated) design was used. The silage used for four treatments were different: control diet (T0; 18.37% corn silage + 12.23% barley silage), diet one (T50; 9.18% corn silage + 6.12% barley silage + 15.30% faba bean silage), diet two (T75; 4.59% corn silage + 3.06% barley silage + 22.95% faba bean silage), and diet three (T100; 30.60% faba bean silage). The results showed that fat corrected milk (3.5% FCM) and energy corrected milk (ECM) were linearly increased with increasing level of whole plant faba bean silage in the diets. The starch digestibility was linearly decreased from 95.3% to 90.4% with increasing supplementation using faba bean silage. Rumen fermentation characteristics (pH, ammonia, volatile fatty acids) were similar among all the treatments. In conclusion, the inclusion of whole plant faba bean silage improved FCM, ECM, milk fat yield, and efficiency without negatively affecting the intake of dry matter. This study showed that whole plant faba bean silage can be used as an alternative feed for dairy cows.