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Three Overlooked Issues: Water Quality, Forage Quality, And Forage Blends Impacting The Feed Efficiency Of Dairy Cows, Ishwary Prasad Acharya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The overall objectives of the six studies were to increase the feed efficiency in lactating dairy cows. The first study evaluated the efficacy of different water sources and treatment systems on ruminal parameters using an in vitro gas production system. Outcomes of the study suggested that the source and nutrient quality of water can affect rate of ruminal fermentation. Thus, use of real farm water being offered to the cow to conduct in vitro gas production measurements may accurately predict the ruminal fermentation, digestibility and total gas production. The second study evaluated two recently developed leafy-floury corn silage hybrids against …