The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the inclusion of roasted whole soybean (RWS) in the concentrate composition to be employed to supplement feeding of Holstein cows on coastcross-1 pasture. Twelve early-lactating cows were utilized, divided into two groups as follows: A) the ones fed standard concentrate (control) containing soybean meal (23.5% CP and 80% TDN) and B) the ones fed RWS-enriched concentrate (19.5% CP and 86% TDN). In two treatments, daily feeding was of 9 kg/cow of concentrate. An electric fence was utilized for helping pasture management, which was based on rotational grazing, with one day of paddock occupation and a resting period of 25 days. The experiment lasted 100 days, during the summer, when the pasture was fertilized with 140, 32, and 112 kg/ha of, respectively, N, P2O5 and K2O, divided into four applications. The inclusion of RWS caused an increase in milk production and in fat-corrected (to 3.5%) milk production, which were, in average: 22.2 and 23.6 and 19.8 and 19.7 kg/cow/day, for RWS-enriched and control treatments, respectively. The milk fat levels were 4.16 and 3.49% in the plots, where animals were fed, respectively, RWS-enriched and standard concentrate. The cows fed RWS-enriched concentrate exhibited superior milk production than the ones fed standard concentrate, reaching 145.4 kg milk/ha/day. In both treatments the cows showed weight gains.
energy; milk production; pasture supplementation; stocking rate
