Ethanoic extract of propolis in dairy cattle feeding

Abstract

The objective of this experiment was to verify the effect of adding etanoic extract of propolis in the diet of Holstein cows on milk production, milk production corrected to 4% of fat, protein and fat content of milk, somatic cells counting and dry matter intake. Twenty Holstein cows on lactation period ranging between 60 and 150 days, with average weight of 546 kg and milk production of 24 kg/day were distributed in two treatments as follow: treatment 1 - diet without addition of propolis extract (control), and treatment 2 - diet with addition of 64 mL of etanoic extract of propolis with concentration of 30% weight/volume (W/V). The propolis intake was 19.2 grams/animal/day. The animals were distributed in a completely randomized design. The ration used was formulated according to requirements of NRC (2001) and contained 17.5% crude protein (CP) and 75% total digestible nutrients on dry matter. The addition of the etanoic extract of propolis had significant effect (P<0.05) on milk production (25.62 vs. 22.62 kg/day) and protein level (2.92 vs. 2.80%), and did not have effect (P>0.05) on dry matter intake as % of body weight (2.08 vs. 2.17), milk fat level (3.10 vs. 3.03%) and somatic cells count (766,700 vs 736,700). The use of etanoic extract of propolis may be an important tool in maintaining ruminal conditions that provide improvements in milk production.