| The objective of this study was to evaluate the replacement of soybean meal by cottonseed meal in the diet of dairy cows fed diets based on spineless cactus. Five Girolando lactating cows were used, with average live weight of 490 kg and average production of 11.5 kg of milk/day, distributed in a 5 × 5 Latin square design (5 animals, 5 treatments and 5 experimental periods). Each experimental period lasted 15 days, 10 days being for the adaptation of the animals to the diet and 5 days for data collection. The experimental diet consisted of spineless cactus (53%), sorghum silage (32%) and concentrate (15%). The cottonseed meal replaced 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of soybean meal in the concentrate. The intake, milk yield and composition were evaluated. The... |
