Table 1.
Ingredients and nutritional characteristics of the concentrates.
| Item | Control Group (CTR) |
Olive Cake Group (OC) |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredient, kg of DM | ||
| Corn meal | 390 | 375 |
| Soybean meal (48% CP) | 190 | 175 |
| Barley meal Wheat middling |
150 120 |
115 115 |
| Sunflower meal | 60.0 | 20.0 |
| Dried Olive Cake cv. Menfi | 150 | |
| Beet pulp | 60.0 | 20 |
| Calcium carbonate | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| Na bicarbonate | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Na chloride | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| P dicalcium | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Mg oxide | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Na propionate | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Vitamin premix § | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Chemical composition, g/kg of DM | ||
| Moisture | 106 | 113 |
| Starch | 396.5 | 403.8 |
| Crude protein | 168 | 170 |
| Ether extract | 45.7 | 44.2 |
| Neutral detergent fiber | 217.6 | 239.4 |
| Acid detergent fiber | 89.2 | 131.8 |
| Acid detergent lignin | 21.3 | 48.3 |
| Ash | 66.8 | 73.0 |
| Calculated nutrient composition | ||
| NEL, milk UFL/kg of DM | 1.08 | 1.09 |
| Ca | 8.6 | 8.5 |
| P | 1.9 | 2.7 |
CTR group: dairy cows fed concentrate without olive cake supplements. OC group: dairy cows fed concentrate with olive cake supplements. DM: Dry Matter. CP: Crude Protein. Na: Sodium. P: Phosphorus. Mg: Manganese. § Providing per kg of diet: 32,000 U vitamin A, 3200 U vitamin D3, 120 mg vitamin E, 8 mg vitamin B1, 1.6 mg vitamin B2, 0.016 mg vitamin B12, 400 mg niacin, 4 mg pantothenic acid, 400 mg choline chloride. NEL: net energy lactation. Milk production efficiency was calculated based on the net energy system [23], where one milk forage unit (UFL) of energy is defined as the net energy content of 1 kg of standard barley for milk production, equivalent to 1700 kcal.