Characteristics of the ingestive behavior and milk production of F1 Holstein x Zebu cows fed with diets containing increasing levels of urea

Abstract

This work aimed to evaluate the ingestive behavior and milk production of F1 Holstein x Zebu cows subjected to increasing levels of urea in the diets. Diets contained 0, 33, 66 and 100% replacement of soybean bran by urea, which corresponded to 0, 0.92, 1.84 and 2.77% of CP in the form of NPN, formulated to be isoproteic and for an average production of 10 liters of milk per cow day-1. We used two 4 x 4 Latin squares, with 4 animals, 4 diets and 4 experimental periods of 18 days each, with the first 15 days of diet adaptation and the last three days for evaluation of ingestive behavior and milk production. The cows were subjected to visual observation at each period, for two consecutive days. There were differences in feeding and idle times, and total chewing time, with quadratic behavior for these variables. Feeding time decreased with 1.78% NPN and idle time increased with the level of 1.96% of CP in the form of NPN. The total chewing time decreased with 1.95% of CP in the form of NPN. The intake, chewing and ruminating time and the efficiencies of feeding and rumination of the DM and of the NDF did not differ. The replacement of soybean brain by urea in the diet of crossbred cows produced changes in the feeding, idle and total chewing times, however, it did not influence milk production of the cows.