Effect of the feeding of Plantago lanceolata with meadows hay on milk efficiency of goats

Abstract

he goal of the study was to evaluate the influence of feeding hay with Plantago lanceolata on milk yield and composition in goats. The 28-day experiment was divided into 3 periods, using 6 goats. During the first (before trial, 10 days) and the third period (post trial, 10 days) goats received a feed ration that consisted of meadow hay in free choice and 0.5 kg of barley. Plantago lanceolata (45 %) was added to meadow hay in the second period (trial, 8 days). There were a total of 10 milk samplings. The highest production of milk was recorded in the second period with Plantago lanceolata added to the feed ration. The does yielded more in case of the second period (1017.0 ml) than during the first (799.3 ml) and the third periods (747.7 ml). Significant differences were found in the content of minerals only. The values for period before trial were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than values during trial and post trial periods (0.66 % versus 0.76 and 0.78 %, respectively).