Spinning Straw into Milk: Can an All- Byproduct Diet Support Milk Production?

Ruminants are able to consume feeds that are unsuitable for humans and monogastric animals, and thus contribute to increased efficiency of our food systems. This study evaluated the performance of dairy cows consuming a diet comprised almost entirely of byproduct feeds, compared with cows consuming a typical lactation diet. The hypothesis was that the byproduct diet could support 80 lb/day of milk production. Although milk production and crude feed efficiency decreased compared to the typical diet, feed efficiency expressed as human-edible output per human-edible input increased for the byproduct diet. This study highlights the unique and important role played by ruminant agriculture in the quest for improved sustainability of our food systems

Spinning straw into milk: Can a 95% byproduct diet support milk production?

Citation: Hulett, M., Ylioja, C. M., Wickersham, T. A., & Bradford, B. J. (2016). Spinning straw into milk: Can a 95% byproduct diet support milk production? Journal of Animal Science, 94, 187-187. doi:10.2527/msasas2016-400Agriculture is challenged with the need to support increasing human populations without additional land. One way the livestock industry has addressed this is by using human inedible feedstuffs, including industrial byproducts. Many dairy and feedlot diets incorporate 20–40% byproduct feeds, but few studies have evaluated responses of lactating dairy cattle to diets composed almost entirely of byproducts. Our objective was to evaluate such a diet in comparison to a more traditional lactation diet. The control diet was primarily composed of alfalfa hay, corn silage, corn gluten feed, and corn grain. The by-product diet included wheat straw, corn hominy, post-extraction algae residue, and corn gluten feed; in addition, 4% molasses was included to improve palatability. The control and by-product diets had similar concentrations of DM (50.6%) and CP (17.2%), whereas the byproduct diet included slightly more NDF (32.9 vs. 30.5%) and less fat (4.7 vs. 5.2%). Twelve Holstein cows (154 ± 20 DIM) were blocked by parity (primiparous vs. multiparous) and randomly assigned to treatment sequence in a crossover design. Diets were fed for 20 d, with data and sample collections over the final 3 d of each period. One cow was removed from byproduct diet after refusing to consume it, and data from this period were not included in the analysis. Data were analyzed with mixed models to assess fixed effects of diet, parity, and their interaction as well as the random effects of cow and period, and significance was declared at P < 0.05. The one selective cow notwithstanding, DMI was not affected by treatment. Milk yield of multiparous cows was decreased by the byproduct diet (38.7 vs. 42.3 ± 2.2 kg/d) but there was no treatment effect in primiparous cows (39.3 vs. 39.4 ± 2.2 kg/d). The byproduct diet decreased milk fat content (3.3 vs. 3.6 ± 0.12%) and tended to decrease protein content (2.94 vs. 2.99 ± 0.05%), and energy-corrected milk yield was decreased by 5.4 kg/d in multiparous cows and 1.5 kg/d in primiparous cows. No effects on BW or BCS were detected. Despite negative productivity responses, calculated recoveries of human-edible protein and energy in the diet were increased by approximately 50% with the byproduct diet, changing from a net loss to a net gain in human-edible energy and protein. A diet composed of 95% byproduct feeds supported milk yield of 39 kg/d and increased the efficiency of production from a human-edible input perspective

Can a “Zero Land Use” Diet Maintain Milk Production of Dairy Cows?

Dairy cows can convert feeds unsuitable and unpalatable for humans into milk and play a key role in food security. Feed efficiency is usually calculated as the ratio between nutrients secreted in milk and nutrient intake, but this metric does not address concerns about human/livestock feed competition. This study aimed to evaluate whether cows fed a “zero land use” diet (diet that does not affect land used for production of human food), with or without rumen-protected amino acids, can maintain milk compared to a conventional lactation diet. Twelve second-lactation dairy cows were used in a 3×3 Latin square design experiment to evaluate 1) conventional total mixed ration (TMR) for lactating cows (CON), containing 25.7% byproduct feeds; 2) a TMR comprised of zero land use feedstuffs (ZLU); and 3) ZLU with top-dressed rumen-protected amino acids (ZLU-AA). Cows fed ZLU or ZLU-AA diets consumed less dry matter (P \u3c 0.01) and decreased (P \u3c 0.01) milk and energy-corrected milk yield of cows. Feed efficiency was similar between cows fed CON and ZLU but it was reduced (P \u3c 0.01) when cows were fed ZLU-AA. In a scenario reflecting current food system byproduct use, cows fed ZLU diets showed greater (P \u3c 0.01) human-edible metabolizable energy and protein recovery in milk than cows fed CON. Zero land use diets did not maintain milk production of late-lactation cows either with or without rumen-protected amino acids

Effects of postpartum treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on milk production and culling risk in dairy cattle

Dairy Research, 2014 is known as Dairy Day, 2014Inflammation during early lactation is common in dairy cattle, and a high degree of inflammation during this time has recently been associated with both lower productivity and greater risk of disease during that lactation. Early lactation treatments with two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were compared with a placebo treatment to evaluate effects on whole-lactation productivity and retention in the herd. Both meloxicam and sodium salicylate increased whole-lactation milk and milk protein yields by 6 to 9%, despite being administered for only 1 or 3 days in early lactation, respectively. In addition, meloxicam treatment tended to decrease the risk of cows leaving the herd during the lactation. These results indicate that postpartum inflammatory signals have long-lasting effects on lactation in dairy cattle

Open source drug discovery - A limited tutorial

Open science is a new concept for the practice of experimental laboratory-based research, such as drug discovery. The authors have recently gained experience in how to run such projects and here describe some straightforward steps others may wish to take towards more openness in their own research programmes. Existing and inexpensive online tools can solve many challenges, while some psychological barriers to the free sharing of all data and ideas are more substantia

Nucleophile-Catalyzed Additions to Activated Triple Bonds. Protection of Lactams, Imides, and Nucleosides with MocVinyl and Related Groups

Additions of lactams, imides, (S)-4-benzyl-1,3-oxazolidin-2-one, 2-pyridone, pyrimidine-2,4-diones (AZT derivatives), or inosines to the electron-deficient triple bonds of methyl propynoate, tert-butyl propynoate, 3-butyn-2-one, N-propynoylmorpholine, or N-methoxy-N-methylpropynamide in the presence of many potential catalysts were examined. DABCO and, second, DMAP appeared to be the best (highest reaction rates and E/Z ratios), while RuCl3, RuClCp*(PPh3)2, AuCl, AuCl(PPh3), CuI, and Cu2(OTf)2 were incapable of catalyzing such additions. The groups incorporated (for example, the 2-(methoxycarbonyl)ethenyl group that we name MocVinyl) serve as protecting groups for the above-mentioned heterocyclic CONH or CONHCO moieties. Deprotections were accomplished via exchange with good nucleophiles: the 1-dodecanethiolate anion turned out to be the most general and efficient reagent, but in some particular cases other nucleophiles also worked (e.g., MocVinyl-inosines can be cleaved with succinimide anion). Some structural and mechanistic details have been accounted for with the help of DFT and MP2 calculations

Open Source Drug Discovery: Highly Potent Antimalarial Compounds Derived from the Tres Cantos Arylpyrroles

The development of new antimalarial compounds remains a pivotal part of the strategy for malaria elimination. Recent large-scale phenotypic screens have provided a wealth of potential starting points for hit-to-lead campaigns. One such public set is explored, employing an open source research mechanism in which all data and ideas were shared in real time, anyone was able to participate, and patents were not sought. One chemical subseries was found to exhibit oral activity but contained a labile ester that could not be replaced without loss of activity, and the original hit exhibited remarkable sensitivity to minor structural change. A second subseries displayed high potency, including activity within gametocyte and liver stage assays, but at the cost of low solubility. As an open source research project, unexplored avenues are clearly identified and may be explored further by the community; new findings may be cumulatively added to the present work