The effect of preservation method of barley, maturity of grass silage, and type of protein supplementation on sensoric milk quality in organic farming

Three continuous production experiments and three short term cross over experiments were carried out in Northern Norway to investigate different feeding strategies for dairy cows in organic farming. This paper focuses on the effects on sensoric milk quality. Half of the 32 Norwegian red dairy cows in the production experiments were fed 40% (HC) concentrates (on energy basis per year) and the other half 10% (LC). Twelve cows (HC) participated in the short term cross over experiments. The experimental factors in the continuous production experiments were barley preservation method (P1), grass silage maturity (P2) and type of protein supplement (P3), and in the short term cross over experiments barley preservation method (C1), type of protein supplement (C2) and time for fishmeal feeding (C3). In all experiments the cows were offered grass silage ad libitum, restricted amounts of cereals and protein feeds, and mineral and vitamin supplements. The sensoric quality of milk was in general high. In the production experiments, milk from cows in HC had slightly higher quality than from cows in LC (significant in P2, p = 0.04). Neither the preservation method of barley (dried or ensiled with molasses), maturity of grass silage or type of protein supplement (fishmeal or peameal) influenced the sensoric milk quality significantly. Also in the cross over experiments no effect of the studied factors was found in milk flavour and odour. Early harvested grass silage gave significantly lower FFA contents than grass silage cut at normal time (P2) and FM gave significantly lower FFA concentrations than peameal (P3). These results indicate that organic farmers with different feeding regimes can produce milk of first class sensoric quality. Also the content of FFA has been low in all experiments (except C1). However, feeding regimes containing low levels of concentrates may reduce milk taste slightly

Effect of barley preservation method on milk production and milk quality in organic farming

The effect of dried vs. ensiled barley (cv. Arve) on feed intake, milk yield and quality in organic production was tested in two experiments in Northern Norway. In the first experiment, two groups were given either 40% or 10% concentrated feed (barley) per cow and year, calculated on energy basis. Grass silage was fed ad. lib. Both drying and ensiling preserved barley properly and resulted in approximately the same feed intake and milk production. Cows in the group with 10% barley had lower milk protein concentration than cows in the group with 40% barley. The palatability of barley was in general low, and several cows refused parts of their allowances throughout the experiment. The second experiment had a cross over design with three treatments. The trial was designed to evaluate the effect of preservation method for barley on sensoric milk quality. The cows were fed well-preserved grass silage ad lib. and supplemented with 5.8 kg DM of either dried barley, barley ensiled with molasses, or barley ensiled with a propionic acid-containing additive. All types of barley were well preserved and no negative effect of ensiled barley was observed

Early or Normal Cut Grass Silage for Dairy Cows in Organic Farming

Early cut organic grass silage (roundbales) was compared with silage harvested 17 days (180 daydegrees) later in a continuous production experiment with 32 Norwegian Red dairy cows in early lactation. The experiment was carried out in Bodø, Norway. A half of the cows received a feed ration with 40% concentrates (H), and the other half 10% (L) on an annual energy basis. Feeding early cut silage of an organic ley increased feed intake, milk yield and milk protein concentration compared with normal cut. Left-overs of concentrates were a problem in the experiment and ways to improve the palatability of on farm produced cereals have to be developed. Early cut crop yields were only about half of the crop yield at normal cut. Therefore early cut may only be recommended to farmers in northern Norway when acerage is not a limiting factor

The effect of fishmeal or peameal on milk fatty acid composition in organic farming

Feed fatty acid (FA) composition influences the FA composition of cow milk. In a continuous production experiment with 32 Norwegian red dairy cows fishmeal (FM) was compared to peameal (PM) as protein supplement to home-grown cereals and grass silage in organic farming. The protein supplements were together with cereals formulated to be isonitrogeneous and isoenergetic (NEL) and were compared at high (HC) and low concentrate (LC) level. The concentrate rations did not affect the intake of silage. Fishmeal resulted in significantly higher milk yield (kg) with a lower fat concentration (HC) compared to PM. Lower concentrations of urea and FFA were found in milk produced with FM compared to PM. Milk flavour and odour was equal or better when FM rather than PM was fed. Fishmeal diets increased significantly the proportions of several long-chain FAs: oleic acid (C18:1c9), vaccenic acid (C18:1c11), CLA (C18:2c9,t11, not significant at HC), C20:0, C18:1t10, and DHA (C22:6 n-3) in milk fat compared to PM. DHA, which is found in high concentrations in FM (14 g/100g FAME), had the most significant increase. The proportion of C18:3 n-3 (ALA) was significantly lower when FM was fed compared to PM. The percentage of saturated FA was significantly lower and the percentage of monounsaturated FA was higher when FM rather than PM was fed. For cows on HC the n-6/n-3 ratio was lower in the FM group than in the PM group, and the ratio was lower at LC than at HC (p = 0.006, interaction p = 0.02). Fishmeal diets included higher proportions of oats than PM diets. Oats have high content of oleic acid and may therefore have influenced the composition of FAs in milk fat as well as the protein supplements. Fishmeal increased the proportion of beneficial FAs without reducing the sensoric quality of milk. It remains unclear whether this is an effect of protein source or an effect of the higher oat proportions in FM diets

Jet-cloud interations and the brightening of the narrow line region in Seyfert galaxies

We study the kinematical and brightness evolution of emission line clouds in the narrow line region (NLR) of Seyfert galaxies during the passage of a jet. We derive a critical density above which a cloud remains radiative after compression by the jet cocoon. The critical density depends mainly on the cocoon pressure. Super-critical clouds increase in emission line brightness, while sub-critical clouds generally are highly overheated reducing their luminosity below that of the inter-cloud medium. Due to the pressure stratification in the bow-shock of the jet, a cylindrical structure of nested shells develops around the jet. The most compact and brightest compressed clouds surround the cloud-free channel of the radio jet. To support our analytical model we present a numerical simulation of a supersonic jet propagating into a clumpy NLR. The position-velocity diagram of the simulated H_alpha emission shows total line widths of the order of 500 km/s with large-scale variations in the radial velocities of the clouds due to the stratified pressure in the bow-shock region of the jet. Most of the luminosity is concentrated in a few dense clouds surrounding the jet. These morphological and kinematic signatures are all found in the well observed NLR of NGC1068 and other Seyfert galaxies.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letter

New insights into pedestrian flow through bottlenecks

Capacity estimation is an important tool for the design and dimensioning of pedestrian facilities. The literature contains different procedures and specifications which show considerable differences with respect to the estimated flow values. Moreover do new experimental data indicate a stepwise growing of the capacity with the width and thus challenge the validity of the specific flow concept. To resolve these differences we have studied experimentally the unidirectional pedestrian flow through bottlenecks under laboratory conditions. The time development of quantities like individual velocities, density and individual time gaps in bottlenecks of different width is presented. The data show a linear growth of the flow with the width. The comparison of the results with experimental data of other authors indicates that the basic assumption of the capacity estimation for bottlenecks has to be revised. In contradiction with most planning guidelines our main result is, that a jam occurs even if the incoming flow does not overstep the capacity defined by the maximum of the flow according to the fundamental diagram.Comment: Traffic flow, pedestrian traffic, crowd dynamics, capacity of bottlenecks (16 pages, 8 figures); (+ 3 new figures and minor revisions

Ulike utviklingstrinn på surfôr til økologisk melkeproduksjon i Nord-Norge

Økologisk eng ble høstet (første slått) når timoteiaksene kunne kjennes i stengelen (S1) og når hele timoteiaks var synlig (S2) og ensilert i rundballer i Bodø i 2004. De to surfôrtypene ble sammenlignet i et kontinuerlig produksjonsforsøk med 32 melkekyr. Før kalving ble dyrene delt inn i 2 grupper med en årlig kraftfôrtildeling tilsvarende henholdsvis 40% (H) og 10% (L) i fôrrasjonen (regnet på energibasis). Første slått ved utviklingstrinn 1 ga lavere avlinger enn ved utviklingstrinn 2 (217 vs. 466 kg TS/daa). Ved bruk av S1 kunne kraftfôrmengden reduseres med over 3 kg TS per dag uten å redusere melkeytelsen nevneverdig sammenlikna med S2 og høy kraftfôrmengde, og samtidig økte proteininnholdet. I den grad reduserte engavlinger ikke er en begrensende faktor på gården anbefales høsting av økologisk gras-kløvereng ved første slått når timoteiaksene kan kjennes i stengelen

Påvirker høstetid for gras innholdet av gunstige fettsyrer i økologisk melk?

Effekten av høstetid for økologisk eng i Nord-Norge på sammensetning av fettsyrer i melk ble undersøkt i et fôringsforsøk med melkekyr. Tidlig høsting av økologisk eng økte ytelsen og protein% i melk. Normal høstetid ga høyere fett% og en antatt helsemessig gunstigere sammensetning av melkefettet. Dette skyldtes bedre forhold mellom mettet og umettet fett samt mer CLA og transvaccensyre (C18:1t11). Innholdet av alfa-linolensyre (C18:3c9,12,15), og forholdet mellom omega-6 og omega-3 fettsyrer var gunstigst i melk fra tidlig høsta gras

Øker marine proteintilskudd risikoen for smaksfeil i økologisk melk?

To kortvarige cross over-forsøk ble gjennomført for å vurdere risikoen for smaksfeil ved bruk av marine proteinkilder. I forsøk 1 ble fiskemel, fiskeproteinkonsentrat og erter sammenlignet. Proteinsupplementet ble kombinert med malt korn til isonitrogene og isoenergetiske kraftfôrrasjoner. I forsøk 2 ble ulike tidspunkt for tildeling av fiskemel sammenlikna. Den daglige fiskemelrasjonen ble fordelt på morgen og kveldsmåltid. Morgenmåltidet ble gitt etter melking til alle kyr. Kveldsmåltidet ble gitt henholdsvis 2 timer før, ½ time før, eller etter kveldsmelkingen. Alle kyrne fikk også tilskudd av malt korn. Melka (i forsøk 2 kveldsmelk) ble testet av et smakspanel på 3 dommere. Verken type av marin proteinkilde sammenlignet med erter, eller tildelingstidspunktet for fiskemel påvirket melkas smak eller lukt som generelt var av god kvalitet