Effect of a feed additive blend of chestnut and quebracho extracts, and saponins on the milk malondialdehyde concentration in dairy cows

Abstract

Malondialdehyde (MDA) is a marker used to assess the peroxidation status in dairy cows and as anindicator for mammary gland inflammation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect offeeding a blend of chestnut and quebracho extracts, and saponins on milk MDA concentration.Sixteen Holstein cows, balanced by milk yield and parity, were randomly assigned to 2 treatmentsin a 28-d crossover design (21 d of adaptation and 7-d sampling collection), control (CON), fed abasal diet composed of alfalfa hay (8.4%), corn silage (55.9%), soybean meal (20.7%), ground corngrain (13.4%), and a mineral vitamins premix (1.5%), and the blend of chestnut and quebrachoextracts, and saponins (BLE) fed in the CON diet at 0.08 % of DMI. The DMI and milk yield wasmeasured daily throughout all the experimental periods. Data were analyzed using a linear mixedmodel with treatments, periods, and parity groups as fixed effect, and cows as random effect. TheDMI was lower in BLE vs CON (25.28 vs 27.52 kg/d; P < 0.0001), no differences in milk yield wereobserved (BLE 37.68 and CON 37.41 milk L/d; P = 0.1716). The BLE treatment improved feedconversion efficiency (1.50 vs 1.38 milk L/Kg DMI; P < 0.0001). Milk MDA was lower in BLE comparedto CON (489.45 vs 980.62 ng/ml; P < 0.001). The BLE improved the feed conversion efficiency andthe peroxidative status of lactating dairy cows by reducing MDA milk contents.