Dehydrated Sweet Potatoes as a Concentrate Feed for Dairy Cattle

Abstract

Dehydrated sweet potatoes when fed to dairy cows in a 75-day double change-over experiment were found to have 91.4 per cent the value of ground yellow corn when they replaced all of the corn. When they replaced only half of the corn, they were 94.8 per cent as valuable. In a digestion trial using four mature dairy cows, the main constituent, nitrogen-free extract, was found to have a digestibility of 90.08 ± 0.43 per cent. On the basis of the digestion coefficients found in this experiment, the total digestible nutrient value was found to be 70.4 per cent on a 12 per cent-moisture basis. Dehydrated sweet potatoes were found to excel corn in maintaining a high level of carotene and vitamin A in the blood plasma and milk. Therefore, they sometimes would have special values which would counteract their slightly lower milk-producing value. © 1948, American Dairy Science Association. All rights reserved.