Effect of palmitic acid-enriched supplements containing stearic or oleic acid on nutrient digestibility and milk production of low- and high-producing dairy cows.

We evaluated the effects of fatty acid (FA) supplement blends containing 60% palmitic acid (C16:0) and either 30% stearic acid (C18:0) or 30% oleic acid (cis-9 C18:1) on nutrient digestibility and milk production of low- and high-producing dairy cows. Twenty-four multiparous Holstein cows [118 ± 44 d in milk (DIM)] were divided into 2 blocks by milk production and then randomly assigned to treatment sequence in four 3 × 3 Latin squares within production level, balanced for carryover effects in three consecutive 21-d periods. Cows were blocked by milk yield and assigned to 1 of 2 groups (n = 12 per group): (a) low group (42.5 ± 3.54 kg/d; 147 ± 42 DIM) and (b) high group (55.8 ± 3.04 kg/d; 101 ± 34 DIM). Commercially available fat supplements were combined to provide treatments that consisted of the following: (1) control (CON; diet with no supplemental FA), (2) FA supplement blend containing 60% C16:0 and 30% C18:0 (PA+SA), and (3) FA supplement blend containing 60% C16:0 and 30% cis-9 C18:1 (PA+OA) The FA blends were fed at 1.5% of dry matter (DM) and replaced soyhulls from CON. Preplanned contrasts were (1) overall effect of FA treatments [CON vs. the average of the FA treatments (FAT); 1/2 (PA+SA + PA+OA)], and (2) effect of FA supplement (PA+SA vs. PA+OA). Regardless of production level, overall FAT reduced DMI compared with CON. Also, regardless of level of milk production, PA+OA increased total-tract FA digestibility compared with PA+SA. Treatment by production level interactions were observed for neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibility, total FA intake, and the yields of 3.5% fat-corrected milk (FCM), energy-corrected milk (ECM), and milk fat. In low-producing cows, FAT increased DM and NDF digestibility compared with CON. In high-producing cows PA+SA increased DM and NDF digestibility compared with PA+OA. In low-producing cows, PA+SA increased 3.5% FCM, ECM, and milk fat yield compared with PA+OA. However, in high-producing cows PA+OA tended to increase 3.5% FCM compared with PA+SA. In conclusion, low-producing cows responded better to a FA blend containing 60% C16:0 and 30% C18:0, whereas high-producing dairy cows responded more favorably to a FA blend containing 60% C16:0 and 30% cis-9 C18:1. However, further research is required to validate our observations that higher-yielding cows have improved production responses when supplemented with cis-9 C18:1 compared with C18:0.