The objectives of these studies were to assess U.S. dairy nutritionists' approaches toward balancing CP in lactating cow diets, and to leverage existing knowledge of postabsorptive AA metabolism through the application of a mathematical ration-balancing model to predict N efficiency through a more accurate postabsorptive amino acid (AA) delivery. In experiment 1, dairy nutritionists (n = 77) that fed a total of 521,000 lactating dairy cows responded to a questionnaire related to demographic information, feelings toward environmental nitrogen (N) excretion, and dietary CP balancing practices. Eighty-nine percent of nutritionists balanced diets based on one or more individual AA requirements of dairy cows. The primary concern with formulation of lower CP diets was the cost per unit of metabolizable protein (MP). In the second study, three treatments were fed to lactating Holstein cows (n = 48) to test proof of concept of NASEM 2021 and a nonlinear optimizer: a control balanced to fulfill all nutrient needs of lactating dairy cows producing 45 kg milk/d using the NRC (2001) dairy model (NRC01), and two diets balanced with a nonlinear optimizer that fulfilled requirements according to the updated NASEM (2021) dairy model and attempted to either: 1) maximize N efficiency through tailored post-ruminal AA supply (NEFF), or 2) maximize income over feed cost (IOFC). A simulation function was written in RStudio (version 2022.02.3) to predict daily animal performance with NASEM 2021. Dry matter intake, milk, and milk components from both the observed data and the simulation data matrices were analyzed as repeated measures (days) in a mixed model to test for both observed and predicted (simulated) differences in treatment means. Income over feed cost was $4.83, $4.77, and $5.12/cow/d for NRC01, IOFC, and NEFF, respectively (P = 0.96). Nitrogen efficiency (%) was greatest for NEFF (33.7), followed by NRC01 (28.9) and IOFC (23.4; P < 0.05 between all treatments). Based upon simulation data, NASEM 2021 predicted relative performance differences between animals that consumed treatments with differing absorbed EAA supplies, although residual analyses revealed that further progress could be made in milk protein (g/d), milk fat (g/d), milk yield (kg/d), and DMI (kg/d) predictions.
Doctor of Philosophy
Nitrogen (N) is considered one of the major environmental pollutants of the dairy industry. A concerted focus on reducing dietary crude protein (CP) loss by targeting the specific amino acid (AA) needs of cattle will also reduce the amount of N they excrete. Because most dairy farmers hire nutritionists to formulate rations for their cows, the objective of our first study, performed in 2019, was to assess U.S. dairy nutritionists' approaches toward balancing AA in lactating cow diets. The objective of our second study was to apply a mathematical ration-balancing model that specifically optimized AA efficiency for lactating dairy cows by leveraging existing knowledge of dairy cow AA metabolism. In study 1, 89% of nutritionists balanced diets based on one or more individual AA requirements of dairy cows. Most respondents (72%) reported that they are currently formulating diets with lower dietary protein than they were 3 to 5 yr ago. In the first study, the primary concern with formulating lower protein diets was the high cost of protein sources that are highly metabolizable for cows. In study 2, income over feed cost (income made from estimated milk sales minus cost of feed) was similar for cows fed a diet with the lowest protein (relative to two other diets), but cows on the low protein diet also ate the least (kg of dry matter/d) and produced the least amount of milk protein (kg/d) and milk fat (kg/d). Still, relative to the other two diets in the study, N consumed by cows on the lowest CP diet was more efficiently converted to milk protein, which resulted in lesser N excretion in milk. Harnessing the knowledge gained from these studies could allow significant reduction of environmental N excretion at little to no cost to consumers or farmers.