Abstract

AZEVEDO, R.A. et al. Technical and economic analysis of differents levels of macauba cake in diets for dairy cows. Arch. zootec. [online]. 2013, vol.62, n.237, pp.147-150. ISSN 1885-4494.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S0004-05922013000100016.

The price of milk does not follow the upward trend of inputs so, reduction of production costs may enable economic efficiency of dairy farming. Within this context, the use of coproducts with highlights to those obtained in the biodiesel chain, may be an alternative for lower feed costs and consequently the production costs. The objective was to analyze the inclusion of different levels of the macauba cake in the total diet of lactating Holstein cows, to replace the corn meal. Eight animals with average weight of 480 kg and average production of 25 kg milk/day were used, in two 4x4 latin squares, with four levels of the cake (0, 10, 20 and 30 % of dry matter) and four periods of 21 days, 14 to adapt and seven days for evaluation. The animals, kept in individual stalls, were fed ad libitum corn silage and concentrate. We evaluated the total dry matter intake, milk production, costs and economic returns of daily diets. The inclusion of coproduct in the diets reduced the dry matter intake and milk production, however, the marginal rate of return of 10 % with the inclusion of coproduct was superior to the other treatments, indicating that the inclusion of 10 % macauba pie is a technically and economically feasible to replace corn bran diet in the diet of dairy cows.

Keywords : Coproducts; Feed costs.

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