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Urea treated maize straw for small-scale dairy systems in the highlands of Central Mexico

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Abstract

Maize straw is the main roughage for dairy herds in campesino farms in central Mexico. The objective was to evaluate feeding milking cows on maize straw treated with 40 g/kg DM of urea (A) or untreated straw (B), and 3.0 kg/d of 18% CP concentrate. Twenty-four Holsteins in late lactation from 8 farmers were sorted in two groups: sequence A-B-A or B-A-B; periods were 28 days. Mean daily milk yield for the last two weeks per period, and live-weight and body-condition score every 14 days were used for analysis. Maize straw was ad libitum. Chemical analysis and in vitro digestibility were analysed by Student’s t test, animal variables by a switch-back design. ‘A’ had 44.3 g/kg DM more CP and 106.5 g/kg DM higher in vitro digestibility than ‘B’ (710 g/kg DM ± 0.75 ‘A’ vs. 603.5 g/kg DM ± 1.44 ‘B’). Despite higher digestibility and intake, there were no differences (P > 0.05) for milk yield, live-weight or body-condition score, although there were in straw intake (P < 0.05). Cows on ‘A’ ate 1.7 kg/cow/day more straw DM than on ‘B’. Lack of response did not offset higher feeding costs although margins were high. Lack of response is attributed to short length of periods and late lactation of cows.

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Abbreviations

ADF:

Acid Detergent Fibre

DM:

Dry Matter

m.a.s.l.:

metres above sea level

NDF:

Neutral Detergent Fibre

OM:

Organic Matter

SEM:

Standard Error of the Mean

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the members of Ejido San Cristóbal, particularly the eight participating farmers in this work, for their enthusiastic and full support to the project. Ms. Laura Edith Martínez-Contreras and Ms. Irma López-Anaya for chemical analysis. Thanks are also given to the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) of the Mexican government for funding this work (grant 28888-B).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Universitario UAEM Temascaltepec, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Instituto literario # 100, 50000, Toluca, México

    Anastacio García-Martínez & Benito Albarrán-Portillo

  2. Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias y Rurales (ICAR), Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Instituto literario # 100, 50000, Toluca, México

    Octavio Alonso Castelán-Ortega & Angélica Espinoza-Ortega

  3. Secretaría de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Instituto literario # 100, 50000, Toluca, México

    Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordán

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  1. Anastacio García-Martínez
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  2. Benito Albarrán-Portillo
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  3. Octavio Alonso Castelán-Ortega
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  4. Angélica Espinoza-Ortega
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  5. Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordán
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Correspondence to Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordán.

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García-Martínez, A., Albarrán-Portillo, B., Castelán-Ortega, O.A. et al. Urea treated maize straw for small-scale dairy systems in the highlands of Central Mexico. Trop Anim Health Prod 41, 1487–1494 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-009-9337-4

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