Potential for 20 % improvement in efficiency of protein use for milk production by amino acid balancing
Published:September 17, 2019
Summary
Research conducted at the US Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison (WI) has shown the potential for improving milk nitrogen (N) efficiency by more than 20 % through balancing amino acids and reducing crude protein levels fed. Milk nitrogen efficiency is a measure of how much of the protein (hence nitrogen) fed appears in milk versus being wasted and posing environmental challenges. Experiment...
We in Israel use 16.2-16.7 % CP depending on MUN looking to achieve 12-16 MUN flat TMR the entiere lactation as roughage is very expensive. We do not use ruman protected amino acids but the TMR is much more diverce in protien feedstufs than the Wisconsin diet. We use soy, canola, DDGS, sunflower mill as protein sources, so we are not sure that the Mepron or AminoShure-XM can help improve nitrogen efficiency.
Claudia Parys Do you think the above BF and true proteins in all the dairy breed cattle ,
because genetically some breeds has low bf content e.g. HF .thanks
Abdul Qader Samsor
Yes, the genetic potential for milk yield and for components is different for the different breeds. Holsteins cows have lower milk fat and milk protein than Jersey cows for example. The requirement for nutrients depends on the breed (and within breed on milk yield, milk components, DIM and so on).
Optimizing rations for nutrients means to optimize the nutrient supply from feeds to meet the cow's requirement for all nutrients. Rumen-protected methionine Mepron is the most efficient source of the amino acid methionine to meet the requirement for this essential amino acid.
shimon carmi hello, can you please share the completeTMR composition that you use for a 35-40 liter per day cow during the different stages of Lactation, thanks
In a follow up experiment with the same team at USDA Wisconsin, a Negative Control treatment was also included to allow a better assessment of what part of the improvements in N-efficiency were simply due to reducing N intake and what part were due to an improvement in performance through amino acid balancing.
Effect of feeding different sources of rumen-protected methionine on milk production and N-utilization in lactating cows : Chen et al J. Dairy Sci. 94 : 1978-1988
Lowering CP content in the ration from 16.8% to 15.6% without any attempt to amino acid balance, did not reduce milk protein but did reduce milk fat. N-efficiency (Milk N/N intake %) was improved from 30.2 to 32.4 (+7.3%). When Smartamine M was added to the 15.6% ration to respect a metabolizable LYS to MET ratio according to NRC 2001 of 3 to 1, daily milk fat yield was improved by 200 grams and milk protein by 90 grams, pushing the N-efficiency up to 34.2 (+13.2% vs the 16.9% CP ration)
Judicious use of Amino acid balancing to lower ration CP levels can improve performance and improve efficiency of N use essential in our goals of sustainable production.
The objective should be to reach at least 40% of intake N being converted into productive N
Methionine has many metabolic roles, so it is not just protein in milk. In any case if you are interested in raising your milk protein you have to consider also the metabolizable Lysine, the rapport between metabolizable Lys and metabolizable Met and the quantity of metabolizable Lys & Met /Mcal ME.
A rough guideline would be a % over total metabolizable protein of 6,8-7% Lys and 2.40-2,70% Met (depending if your aim is % of protein in milk or milk yield), but it is as important or more to supply 1,17 gr metabolizable Met/Mcal ME and 3,15gr metabolizable Lys/Mcal ME
Dear Claudia,
Hope you would be fine.
Just wanted to know if you have conducted comparative trials of Mepron with other bypass amino acids products available in the market and what were the results if you have done any trials?
No doubt Mepron is an excellent product but there are other products available in market that are equally good and cost effective as well. Would you please like to shed light on that too.
Regards
Dear Shahzaib Shakeel, thanks for your question. It is essential to calculate the amino acid supplementation on the basis of the metabolizable methionine or lysine content. The mMet content of Mepron is 612g/kg. If we used another product with the same mMet content, we supplemented the same grams of that product as we used Mepron and got the same result. With products lower in mMet content than Mepron, the grams per day need to be higher to supplement equal grams of mMet to achieve the same results. In addition to mMet content, physical resistance against mechanical stress is important. Due to its strong coating, Mepron often outperformed competition products on the same mMet supply level. Regards, Claudia
