Study on the Consumption Speed of Forages and Consumption Indices of Forages in Romanian Black and White Cows

The aim of the paper was to determine the consumption speed of forages (g⁄min.) and consumption indices (quantity and consumption duration) of forages, administered in two portions, to Romanian Black and White cows. The administration order of forages (fibrous-succulents (O1) and succulents-fibrous (O2) order), the number of portion (P1 and P2) and number of feeding (F1 and F2) were the experimental variants. Data was computed by ANOVA/MANOVA. Results showed that the administration order of forages had an influence on the speed consumption, when was given before silage (O1), hay had a higher consumption speed (41.35 g/min) decreasing to 31.41 g/min when hay was fed after the silage (O2). For silage the consumption speed was 190.33 g/min in O1 and increased to 228.87 g/min when was given before hay (O2). Between portion 1 (P1) and portion 2 (P2), the significant difference (p<0.001) was for silage consumption speed in favour portion P2. Regarding the number of feedings per portion, always the consumption speed of the feedstuffs, as well as the amount consumed, was higher in the first feeding F1 than in the second feeding F2.