Milk Urea and Protein Concentrations in Milk of Dairy Cows as a Diagnostic Tool
Factors Affecting Analysis and Interpretation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21423/aabppro19995521Keywords:
Milk urea, milk protein, somatic cell count, daily milk yield, protein-energy balanceAbstract
Milk urea (UREA), together with percentage milk protein (PROT), are increasingly being used as indicators of the protein-energy balance of the ration and for monitoring nutrition or diagnosing feeding disorders. Goals of this study were a) determine the influence of the variations among quarters, the somatic cell count, sample conservation, centrifugation, and the time of sampling during the day on UREA, and to propose a sample collection procedure for herds that are not on a Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) program; and b) analyze the effects of parity, daily milk yield, days in lactation, somatic-cell count, and herd and feeding factors on UREA and PROT.