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Animals
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Advances in Nutrition and Feeding Strategies for Dairy Cows
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Advances in Nutrition and Feeding Strategies for Dairy Cows

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Cattle".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 3 August 2026 | Viewed by 1571

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Damiano Cavallini

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Tolara di Sopra 50, 40064 Ozzano Emilia, BO, Italy
Interests: ruminants nutrition; dairy cattle; rumen metabolism; feed efficiency; sustainability in dairy farming; feed additives; nutrient partitioning; feedstuffs evaluation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Dairy cow nutrition and feeding strategies are critical components of modern livestock management, directly influencing animal health, productivity, and the sustainability of dairy systems. This field has experienced remarkable advancements in recent years, driven by a growing demand for sustainable practices, the adoption of precision feeding technologies, and a deeper understanding of ruminant metabolism and gut microbiology.

We are pleased to invite researchers to contribute to this Special Issue, which aims to explore innovative approaches in dairy cow nutrition and feeding. This includes strategies to optimize feed efficiency, enhance nutrient utilization, and reduce environmental impacts while maintaining animal welfare and economic viability.

This Special Issue aligns with the journal's mission to advance knowledge in animal science, with a specific focus on cattle. Submissions should emphasize novel findings, practical applications, and interdisciplinary approaches. 

We welcome submissions of original research articles, reviews, communications, commentaries, and case reports on research areas that may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Innovations in feed formulation and feedstuff evaluation;
  • Nutritional strategies for improving milk quality and yield;
  • Mitigating environmental impacts through dietary interventions;
  • The role of feed additives in rumen health and metabolism;
  • Precision nutrition and feeding technologies in dairy systems.

We look forward to your contributions to this Special Issue, which will advance the scientific understanding of dairy cow nutrition and feeding strategies.

Dr. Damiano Cavallini
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • ruminant nutrition
  • dairy cattle
  • rumen metabolism
  • feed efficiency
  • sustainability in dairy farming
  • feed additives
  • nutrient partitioning
  • feedstuff evaluation

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 673 KB  
Article
Real-Time Dry Matter Prediction in Whole-Plant Corn Forage and Silage Using Portable Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
by Matheus Rebouças Pupo, Evan Cole Diepersloot, Eduardo Marostegan de Paula, João Ricardo Rebouças Dórea, Lucas Ghedin Ghizzi and Luiz Felipe Ferraretto
Animals 2025, 15(16), 2349; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15162349 - 11 Aug 2025
Viewed by 452
Abstract
Portable near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) offers the opportunity of a rapid measurement of forage dry matter concentration, allowing producers to make faster adjustments in real time. This study compared dry matter (DM) concentration predictions of three units of a portable near-infrared reflectance spectrometer [...] Read more.
Portable near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) offers the opportunity of a rapid measurement of forage dry matter concentration, allowing producers to make faster adjustments in real time. This study compared dry matter (DM) concentration predictions of three units of a portable near-infrared reflectance spectrometer (pNIRS) with conventional forced-air oven drying (48 h at 60 °C) using corn forage and silage samples. Moreover, a common on-farm method (Koster tester) was also compared. The reflectance curve used by pNIRS to predict DM was obtained by scanning WPCS samples and developed by SciO. A total of 113 whole-plant corn forage (WPCF) and 27 whole-plant corn silage (WPCS) samples from 66 corn hybrids were obtained from three separate experiments conducted between 2018 and 2019. These three experiments were completely independent of each other, with sample collections over different periods. In Experiment 1, all treatments were tested in WPCF, and the DM concentration of the forced-air oven differed from Koster testers (35.4 vs. 34.3% DM, on average, respectively) and all three pNIRS units (35.4 vs. 30.7% DM, on average, respectively), with no differences among pNIRS. All treatments were positively correlated with the forced-air oven treatment DM values. Experiment 2 evaluated the Koster tester and pNIRS in WPCF on farms, and the Koster tester differed from pNIRS (37.2 vs. 33.3% DM, on average, respectively) treatments. All pNIRS were positively correlated with Koster tester treatment. In Experiment 3, all treatments were tested in WPCS, and the DM concentration of the forced-air oven was greater than other treatments (35.3 vs. 32.8% DM, on average, respectively). Overall, Koster tester predictions for both Experiments 1 and 3 were better correlated with the forced-air oven than pNIRS. Additionally, pNIRS showed a lower mean bias, although low coefficients of determination and concordance correlation were observed in Experiment 3 compared to Experiments 1 and 2, which might be related to the prediction curve. Further calibrations of the predictive curve with forage samples would be needed to reasonably estimate the DM concentration of WPCF, whereas a greater number of samples could account for the variations in WPCS due to large heterogeneity in particle composition (e.g., leaves, stem, and kernel), size, and distribution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Nutrition and Feeding Strategies for Dairy Cows)
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17 pages, 458 KB  
Article
Effects of Chestnut Tannin Extract on Enteric Methane Emissions, Blood Metabolites and Lactation Performance in Mid-Lactation Cows
by Radiša Prodanović, Dušan Bošnjaković, Ana Djordjevic, Predrag Simeunović, Sveta Arsić, Aleksandra Mitrović, Ljubomir Jovanović, Ivan Vujanac, Danijela Kirovski and Sreten Nedić
Animals 2025, 15(15), 2238; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15152238 - 30 Jul 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 491
Abstract
Dietary tannin supplementation represents a potential strategy to modulate rumen fermentation and enhance lactation performance in dairy cows, though responses remain inconsistent. A 21-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of chestnut tannin (CNT) extract on the enteric methane emissions (EME), [...] Read more.
Dietary tannin supplementation represents a potential strategy to modulate rumen fermentation and enhance lactation performance in dairy cows, though responses remain inconsistent. A 21-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of chestnut tannin (CNT) extract on the enteric methane emissions (EME), blood metabolites, and milk production traits in mid-lactation dairy cows. Thirty-six Holstein cows were allocated to three homogeneous treatment groups: control (CNT0, 0 g/d CNT), CNT40 (40 g/d CNT), and CNT80 (80 g/d CNT). Measurements of EME, dry matter intake (DMI), milk yield (MY), and blood and milk parameters were carried out pre- and post-21-day supplementation period. Compared with the no-additive group, the CNT extract reduced methane production, methane yield, and methane intensity in CNT40 and CNT80 (p < 0.001). CNT40 and CNT80 cows exhibited lower blood urea nitrogen (p = 0.019 and p = 0.002) and elevated serum insulin (p = 0.003 and p < 0.001) and growth hormone concentrations (p = 0.046 and p = 0.034), coinciding with reduced aspartate aminotransferase (p = 0.016 and p = 0.045), and lactate dehydrogenase (p = 0.011 and p = 0.008) activities compared to control. However, CNT80 had higher circulating NEFA and BHBA than CNT0 (p = 0.003 and p = 0.004) and CNT40 (p = 0.035 and p = 0.019). The blood glucose, albumin, and total bilirubin concentrations were not affected. MY and fat- and protein-corrected milk (FPCM), MY/DMI, and FPCM/DMI were higher in both CNT40 (p = 0.004, p = 0.003, p = 0.014, p = 0.010) and CNT80 (p = 0.002, p = 0.003, p = 0.008, p = 0.013) cows compared with controls. Feeding CNT80 resulted in higher protein content (p = 0.015) but lower fat percentage in milk (p = 0.004) compared to CNT0. Milk urea nitrogen and somatic cell counts were significantly lower in both CNT40 (p < 0.001, p = 0.009) and CNT80 (p < 0.001 for both) compared to CNT0, while milk lactose did not differ between treatments. These findings demonstrate that chestnut tannin extract effectively mitigates EME while enhancing lactation performance in mid-lactation dairy cows. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Nutrition and Feeding Strategies for Dairy Cows)
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