ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE September 2024 67 tion, rumen protected capsaicinoids may have redirected glucose for milk production. Thus, capsaicinoids may be of interest to address early lactation challenges faced by dairy cows. RUMEN PROTECTED CAPSAICINOIDS DURING TRANSITION PERIOD AND EARLY LACTATION – PERFORMANCE BENEFITS Performance studies were then completed to confirm the interest of RPC supplementation to improve milk performance in early lactation. A first study was conducted by University of São Paulo – Brazil with 24 Holstein dairy cows supplemented with RPC from 28 days of the expected calving date until 56 days of lactation. Milk yield, fat-corrected milk and feed efficiency were statistically improved for cows supplemented with RPC (Table 1). Interestingly, beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) were similar between treatment groups during the pre- and post-partum periods, which suggested that increased milk yield was not due to higher fat reserves mobilization. A second study was performed in the USA with 105 dairy cows milked with an automatic milking system. Cows were supplemented with RPC from 21 days before expected calving date until 60 days in milk. Milk yield was increased (42.1. and 44.7 kg/cow/day Measure SE Control RPC P ≤ Cows (hd) Milk yield (kg/hd/d) DMI, post-partum (kg/hd/d) Milk yield ÷ DMI Milk Fat (%) Milk Fat (kg/hd/d) Milk Protein (%) Milk Protein (kg/hd/d) 12 28.5 20.3 1.50 3.77 1.05 3.02 0.86 12 31.7 19.2 1.72 3.87 1.20 3.00 0.94 1.58 1.61 0.077 0.098 0.056 0.024 0.046 Table 1. Performance results 0.007 0.563 0.043 0.477 0.045 0.310 0.158
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