Twelve Holstein lactating dairy cows were blocked by days in milk and randomly assigned to three replicated 4 x 4 Latin square to evaluate the effect of different protein sources on intake, nutrient digestibility, and milk production and composition. A basal corn silage diet (60% of the total dry matter) was fed plus one of the following proteins sources (dry matter basis): soybean meal (SBM), cottonseed meal with 38% of crude protein (CSM38), cottonseed meal with 28% of crude protein (CSM28), or soybean meal plus 5% of urea/ammonium sulfate (SBMU). Intakes of dry matter (DMI) and organic matter (OMI) did not differ among diets but intake of total digestible nutrients (TDN) was greatest on the SBM diet. The digestibility coefficients (DC) of DM and OM were lower on CSM38, CSM28, and SBMU diets when compared to the SBM diet. Milk yield (MY), 3.5% fat corrected milk, and milk fat content and yield all were not affected by feeding different protein sources to lactating dairy cows. However, feed and nitrogen efficiencies and milk protein content and yield were lower in the CSM diets than on diets supplemented with SBM. It can be concluded that milk yield was maintained when cows were fed SBMU or CSM38 in diets with forage (corn silage) to concentrate ratio of 60:40.
cottonseed meal; milk; soybean meal; urea
