Evaluation of Agolin ®, an Essential Oil Blend, as a Feed Additive for High Producing Cows

Abstract

There is a growing demand for feed additives that can not only reduce dairy enteric methane emissions but also increase milk production and feed effi-ciency. Just one product is currently commercially available which accom-plishes both of these goals. The purpose of this study was to confirm the per-formance benefits of the product (Agolin®, Agolin SA, Biere, Switzerland) in high producing mid-lactation dairy cows under United States feeding condi-tions. Four matched pens of approximately 150 mid-lactation cows/pen and averaging over 50 kg of milk/cow/day were enrolled in a side-by-side study. All pens received a common total mixed diet ad libitum, and the essential oil blend was administered via a concentrated farm pack to provide 1 g/cow/day to cows in the 2 test pens. Milk weights were determined, and samples were collected for compositional analysis over the last 2 days of the pretrial (May 11 and 12, 2020) and end of the trial (July 18 and 19, 2020) periods. Dry mat-ter intake was measured by pen daily for the last 10 days of each feeding pe-riod. Milk fat and milk protein yields were greater (P < 0.05) for cows receiv-ing added Agolin. There was a tendency (P = 0.06) for energy corrected milk/dry matter intake to be greater for cows receiving the Agolin (1.88) rela-tive to the control diet (1.76). The trial showed that Agolin assisted in im-proving production parameters of economic importance to dairy producers.