Milk production, milk fatty acid composition, and blood biochemical parameters of Holstein dairy cows fed whole or ground flaxseed instead of extruded soybeans in the first half of lactation

Abstract

To evaluate the effects of physically processed flaxseed [ground flaxseed (GFS) and whole flaxseed(WFS)] as a replacement for extruded soybeans on feed intake, milk production, milk composition, milk fatty acid (FA) composition and blood biochemical parameters, nine primiparus Holstein dairy lactating cowsaveraging 495 ± 34.5 kg of body weight (BW) and 70 ± 5 days in milk (DIM) were assigned in a 3 × 3change over Latin square design with three periods. Intake of dry matter was similar among the animals fedthe treatments, also milk yield and milk composition were not influenced by the diets. Processing of flaxseed significantly (P