Abstract
The levels of urea nitrogen both in blood (BUN) and milk (MUN), and milk protein (MP) reflect protein and energy intake in dairy herd feeding. Blood and milk constituents may be changes rhythmically and influence by different sampling time within a day and after feeding. Trials were conducted using five dietary treatments in both lactating and dry cows to study the effects of sampling time on concentrations of BUN, MUN and whole blood ammonia nitrogen (BAN) in practical dairy cow feeding in Taiwan. The conventional feed ingredients and forages including corn silage, alfalfa hay, timothy or pangola hay and corn grain were used as major source of the diet to follow practical dairy cow feeding. Five different diets were varying in amounts (low=L; standard=S; high=H) of crude protein (P) and energy (E) according to the NRC (1989). The energy to protein ratios in kcal/kg for the PSES, PLES, PHES, PSEH and PSEL were 10.82, 12.54, 9.41, 12.53 and 9.13 in lactating cows, and 11.38, 13.33, 9.78, 13.28 and 9.74 in dry cows, respectively. Results showed that after feeding at 9:30, BUN reached peak at 13:30 and was significantly higher than those to that sampled at 14:30 to 18:30 (p<0.05) in dry cows. Therefore the best blood sampling time for urea nitrogen assay in dry cows is 4 hours after morning feeding. In lactating cows, BUN of 13:30 was significantly higher than those of 8:30 to 11:30 (p<0.05), but there were no significant difference between the BUN values of other sampling time. Hence the suitable blood sampling time for BUN value in lactating cows was located on 3 to 8 hours after morning feeding, but the best time was 4 hours after morning feeding. MUN content is significantly higher in the afternoon collected bulk milk than the fore-strip morning milk (p<0.05), therefore the best sampling time for MUN is from afternoon collected bulk milk. Diurnal BAN changed without traceable rhythmic pattern and was negatively correlated to the BUN (r = -0.78). It is suggested that BAN may not be a good indicator for monitoring dairy cow feeding.