Effects of supplementation of sunflower cake for lactating cows: productive performance and economic analysis

This study aimed to evaluate the performance and estimate the viability of milk production for grazing cows supplemented with concentrate rations containing increasing levels of sunflower cake (0, 24, 48 and 72% DM). In this study were used 20 multiparous and primiparous cows after peak lactation distributed 4x4 Latin Square type. The data corrected milk yield to 3.5% fat showed no difference (P>0.05) among treatments. Milk production presented linear effect; there was increased production for animals fed rations containing concentrated levels of 24% of sunflower cake and lower production with 72%. The fat content had a quadratic effect, the treatment containing 72% sunflower cake had minimum point; however, the latter had increase in fat presenting result of 3.98% compared to the control, 3.63%. The estimate of the economic viability per liter of milk did not differ (P>0.05) among treatments, indicating that sunflower cake is a good alternative to lactating cows without causing additional economic burden. In this sense, it is found that the sunflower cake can be employed in supplementing lactating cows until the level of 72%.