Ground soybean seed in the lactating cows diets. 1. Intake and digestibility of nutrients

The objective of this work was to determine the daily intake of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and the apparent digestibility coefficients of DM, OM, CP, NDF and EE at the 28(th) and 90(th) days post calving. Sixteen cows from calving to 98 days of lactation were grouped in a complete randomized design and fed isoprotein concentrated diets, enriched with calcium and magnesium and two levels (0 and 30%) of ground soybean seed and the corn silage was fed ad libitum. The addition of ground soybean seed to the concentrate diet, at levels of 30%, reduced the intakes of DM, OM, CP and NDF. The intake of EE was lower for the animals in the control diet. The nutrient apparent digestibilities were not affected, when measured at 28(th) and 90(th) days post-calving. There was no significant difference between the two treatments.