Covotek Pan for dairy cows - it's a matter of taste!

If we can change the taste profile of the feed, does this have any effect on the dairy cow? Would it change consumption patterns, which may influence production parameters? Or with this knowledge could the nutritionist formulate more cost effective diets?

To try to answer some of these questions, we carried out two separate studies at locations in France and Scotland.
The objective was to quantify the effects of flavouring palatants on the acceptability of the feed by dairy cows. In Scotland the trial
was conducted by Jenny Bell at the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC). Using a change-over design the trial set out to evaluate the potential use of a citrus pulp by-product and its replacement in a compound feed by an application of Pancosma’s Covatone liquid flavour spray, fenugreek type (in powder form Covotek 6571).

The reactions of the mid-lactating cows demonstrated quite clearly (see Table 1) that the attractiveness of the citrus pulp replacement / Covatone spray combination was equal to that of citrus pulp based formulation.

With this information the nutritionist can take a more flexible approach to the inclusion rates of citrus pulp if more economical sources of raw material are available.

Details of this trial are described in Pancosma Technical Bulletin N°120. For the study in France, a major feed compounder was already convinced of the value of adding an orange-based palatant to his feed. However, an orange is not always what it seems to be, as was demonstrated in a trial carried out by the compounder. The objective was to see if there was any preference by the dairy cow for either of two liquid flavours, described by the manufacturer as being “orange”. One product supplied by Pancosma, Pan-Orange Spray and the second by a competitor company.

The results demonstrated a significant preference for Pan-Orange (P<0.001). At one point the cows were consuming 64.5% more Pan-Orange reated feed compared to the competitor. See Graph 1 below:



Based on the findings an orange is not always an orange and the dairy cow can demonstrate strong preferences. This is normally associated with the quality of the flavour and the accuracy of the aromatic profile. Details of the trial are available in the Pancosma Technical Bulletin N° 134.