Amla fruit supplementation (FAF) in dairy cows. A novel idea!

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Amla fruit supplementation in dairy cows has emerged as an interesting new idea. An investigation was carried out regarding the effects that amla fruit could have in relation to: digestibility of nutrients, fermentation parameters and especially milk yield in production cows.

Amla (Phyllanthus emblica)

The taste of the amla fruit (Phyllanthus emblica) is sour and astringent, so it is not considered suitable for human consumption,which leads to significant food waste. Given this problem, it can be reused in animal feed. Therefore a group of scientists of Chinese and American nationality decided to investigate the effects of feeding 3 levels (g / d) of amla fruit on:

The digestibility of its nutrients
Fermentation parameters
Milk yield in cows during production.

The research was based on feeding 8 Holstein cows in 2 different groups. The experimental group had 4 randomly selected cows, which were supplemented with the following amounts: 200, 400, 600 g/d of Amla with an interval of 14 days.

Amla fruit

Effects of Amla use

The results were published in the journal Animal Feed Science and Technology. Within these, it was pointed out that their inclusion affected milk production, composition, nutrient digestibility and rumen production of short-chain fatty acids. The only parameter that was not affected was food intake.

Supplementation with FAF (fresh amla fruit) increased milk production and ECM (Determines the amount of energy in milk based on fat and protein) in lactating cows. The intake level observed with amla supplementation revealed that improved digestibility could increase daily milk production by 200 g/d and change body weight to 600 g/d compared to controls.

The inclusion of 400 g/day of FAF led to higher milk protein yield and nitrogen efficiency in milk compared to those cows that were fed 200 g/day.

Amla’s anti-nutritional factors

These factors occur when supplementing with more than 400 g/d as a natural feeding alternative. There may be anti-nutritional factors that limit the levels of fruit supplementation.

Conclusion

Up until now, no studies have been published evaluating the effects on the digestibility, lactation, yield and fermentation of the rumen when using fruit as a supplement for dairy cows. What could be evidenced by the study mentioned above was that it had an impact in terms of milk production and composition, milk nitrogen efficiency, ureic nitrogen in milk, short-chain fatty acid production and ammonia production.

Source: Journal Animal Feed Science and Technology