The effect of sodium bicarbonate or live yeast culture (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on the metabolism and production of Lactating dairy cows
Date
2009
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Recent studies have shown that feeding live yeasts to dairy cows has the ability
to moderate ruminal pH. The objective of this study was to compare the effects of
feeding live yeasts or sodium bicarbonate, a traditional buffer, on metabolic indices,
digestibility of the total mixed ration (TMR) and milk production and composition in
lactating dairy cows. Twenty-eight lactating Holstein cows (77 ± 31 days in milk,
39.4 ± 7.2 kg milk/d) were assigned to blocks by milk production, lactation number,
and days in milk and randomly allocated to one of three treatments in a replicated 3 ×
3 Latin square design.