Body weight and feed intake dynamics in early and mid-lactation in gir cows supplemented with bypass fat and choline

A study was conducted with eighteen healthy Gir cows, which were selected and divided into three groups of six cows each on the basis of their previous 300-day milk yield, parity, and body weight. The cows were subjected to an adaptation period of 21 days (from -15 to +7 days peri-partum). The cows in the control group were fed only basal ration, while the cows under treatment 1 (T-1) were supplemented with bypass fat (BPF) at 10 g/kg of milk or cow in addition to basal ration, whereas treatment 2 (T-2) received a combination of BPF at 10 g/kg of milk/cow and bypass choline (BPC) at 45 g/day/cow in addition to basal ration for 168 days from the 7^th to 175^th days post-partum. During the early phase of lactation, body weight loss of the cows was minimum in the T-1 (-36.67 kg, 10.39%) group, whereas in the mid-phase, the regain in body weight was maximum in the T-2 group (+56.00 kg, 18.10%) as compared to the other two groups. The dry matter intake (DMI, kg/d) in the T-1 (9.10±0.07) and T-2 (9.01±0.04) groups was found to be significantly (P<0.05) higher than that in the control (8.83±0.05) group. Significantly (P<0.05) higher DMI was observed in T-1 and T-2 during the mid-phase of lactation from the 15^th to 25^th weeks of lactation. The additional energy intake from bypass fat and choline supplementation contributed towards the reduction of body weight loss in lactating Gir cows, whereas the intake of feed was positively influenced by the addition of bypass fat and bypass choline.