Effect of subacute ruminal acidosis on milk fat concentration, yield and fatty acid profile of dairy cows receiving soybean oil

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of ruminal infusion of soybean oil (SBO) with either a moderate- or high-forage diet on fat concentration, yield and composition in milk from dairy cows. Six rumen-fistulated Holstein dairy cows (639+/-51 kg body weight, 140+/-59 days in milk) were used in the study. Cows were randomly assigned to one of two dietary treatments, a high forage:concentrate (HFC, 74:26) or a moderate forage:concentrate (MFC, 56:44) total mixed ration. Cows were fed at 08.00 and 13.00 h and pulse-dosed ruminally at 13.00 h over a 10-min duration with 2% of diet dry matter of SBO. Ruminal pH was recorded continuously. Cows receiving the MFC treatment had lower daily mean ruminal pH and ruminal pH was below 6.0 for a longer duration compared with the HFC treatment (640 vs. 262 min/d, P<0.05). Cows receiving the MFC treatment had a greater reduction (diet by week interaction, P<0.05) in milk fat concentration and yield than cows receiving the HFC treatment (42 vs. 22% and 45 vs. 21%, respectively). Additionally, cows receiving the MFC diet had a greater reduction in milk fat concentration (g/100 g FA) of FA C16 (17 vs. 9%), trans-10 18:1 (159 vs. 21%) and trans-9, cis-11 conjugated linoleic acid (121 vs. 55%) (P<0.05) compared with cows receiving the HFC diet. This study demonstrated that cows fed the MFC diet had lower ruminal pH and showed a greater rate of milk fat depression when infused with SBO.