Low vs high "water footprint assessment" diet in milk production: A comparison between triticale and corn silage based diets

Abstract

The agriculture account is 92% of the global freshwater footprint, and 29% of this amount is used in animal husbandry to produce forage, to mix animal feed, for drinking of the animals and, at least, in the farm activities. In this trial we tested two diets whose production is characterized by different water consumption. Two homogeneous groups of milking cows were used to compare two different diets: standard feeding, with corn silage-based diet; and alternative feeding, with triticale silage-based diet. Both silages represented about 47% of diet composition. Diets were characterized by the same energy and protein content. Despite the lowest water consumption of the triticale silage group, no significant differences were observed between the groups on production level and on milk chemical composition.