Effect of different levels of sesame meal on dry matter intake, milk production and composition, blood metabolites and apparent nutrient digestibility in early lactation Holstein cows

The objective of present study was to investigate the effect of different levels of sesame meal in early lactation cow's ration on dry matter intake, milk yield and composition, apparent digestibility of nutrients and blood metabolites. Six dairy lactating Holstein cows with average DIM 26± 3 (n=3 primiparous and n=3 multiparous cows) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental treatments (different levels of sesame meal) in repeated 3×3 Latin square design. Experimental treatments were control (without sesame meal), 4.33% sesame meal and 8.66% sesame meal (DM basis). The experimental periods consisted of 21 d with the first 14 days as adaptation and the last 7 days as sampling days. Increasing level of sesame meal in early lactation rations did not affect dry matter intake, milk yield and composition (fat, protein and lactose), feed utilization efficiency, apparent digestibility of nutrients and blood metabolites (P  0.05), while milk urea nitrogen decreased with increasing the level of sesame meal (P<0.05). Blood urea nitrogen concentrations also tended (P = 0.1) to decrease with increasing levels of sesame oil. In general, the lack of response in feed intake and milk yield with increasing the levels of sesame meal in early lactation cow's ration showed that sesame meal could be a proper protein source in early lactation cow's ration.