Milk yield response of cows supplemented with sorghum stover and Tithonia diversifolia leaf hay diets during the dry season in northern Uganda

Five primiparous cows (Friesians crossed with undefined breeds and in early lactation) were used to assess the milk yield response of dairy cows offered a basal feed of Panicum maximum hay and supplemented with diets based on sorghum stover and Tithonia diversifolia leaf hay during the dry season. The cows were assigned to five experimental diets in a 5 × 5 Latin square design of 21-day experimental periods. The experimental diets consisted of a control (Panicum hay alone), and four experimental diets whereby Panicum hay was supplemented with diets based on sorghum stover, Tithonia leaf hay, maize bran, sunflower cake, and sugar cane molasses as follows: stover/Tithonia/bran/molasses (STBM), stover/Tithonia/bran (STB), stover/Tithonia/bran/cake (STBC), and stover/bran/cake (SBC). The supplements were formulated and offered to meet the crude protein and energy recommendations of a 350-kg cow producing about 10 kg milk/day. Average milk yield significantly increased (P < 0.05) from 6.49 kg/cow/day (control) to 7.25, 7.29, 7.50, and 7.52 kg/cow/day (SBC, STBM, STB, and STBC, respectively). There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the amounts consumed across the supplements. A similar trend was observed for milk returned/kg supplement consumed. On average, each kilogram of STB, STBC, STBM, and SBC returned 0.48, 0.37, 0.29, and 0.29 kg milk/day, respectively. Thus, the results of the present study revealed that supplements based on sorghum stover and Tithonia leaf hay are a viable option as dry season feed supplements for dairy cows. However, only two supplements, namely STB and STBC, had positive net financial benefits.