Prof. Charles Schwab:
Prof. Schwab who declared himself as “a scientist but a farmer at heart”, presented at his first seminar in the Kemin European Roadshow an in depth view of the evolution dairy nutrition from crude protein to amino acid balancing.
“Rumen undegradable protein (RUP) and rumen degradable protein (RDP) as a percentage of dry matter, are two important sets of requirements that need to be taken into account in dairy nutrition” says Prof. Schwab. “Most of the actual models do not take into account the amino acid (AA) profile of the RUP fraction, which is one of the biggest drivers in milk production”.
Balancing diets for the most limiting AA increases the efficiency of use of RUP, and hence, and metabolisable protein, for milk and milk protein yields and increases dairy herd profitability. In this respect great progress has been made in evaluating protein and Methionine supplements for ruminants, with Methionine as the main limiting amino acid in dairy production”
Mr. Robert Bennett:
Balancing dairy cow rations for amino acids requires three key elements:
a reliable AA formulating system
a robust amino acid database for feedstuffs and a reliable source of Methionine
clear formulation objectives.
These objectives in large part fall into three categories: “additive”, “optimised” and “cost-neutral”. The additive approach involves supplementing solely with methionine, when the initial lysine content is deemed satisfactory. The “optimised” objective is to balance the metabolizable lysine to methionine ratio to reach 3 to 1, down from often 3.7-3.4 to 1. And “cost-neutral” means improving this ratio and making other changes to the diet with a goal of no additional cost to the ration.
The most profitable option, but also the most expensive, is the additive approach. The attractiveness of the cost-neutral approach is obviously its cost, but the margin it leaves is the smallest of the three, whereas the optimised case lies between additive and cost-neutral, both in terms of cost and benefits.
Prof. Ian Givens:
We now live in a era of concern about chronic disease due largely to the increase in obesity and the increasing age of the European population. Diet is a key modifier of risk for chronic disease and Prof. Ian Givens presentation looked specially at the role of milk in the diet and the opportunities that are available for reducing risk.
Despite being the main source of saturated fatty acids in the diet, milk/dairy products appear to provide a degree of protection against cardiovascular disease when consumed in large quantity. Changing the fatty acid profile of milk fat is discussed as a means of reducing intake of saturated fatty acids without reducing milk consumption.
The functionality of milk proteins was also discussed and the potentially beneficial effects in diets for elderly as well as the potential for enriching milk with trace elements.
The key message was that modern milk production should start to consider the functionality of milk/milk products beyond its simple fat and protein content.
