出版社：Instituto de Pesquisas Ambientais em Bacias Hidrográficas
摘要：This study evaluated the impact of diet as a mitigation action to improve the water efficiency of lactating cows.An intensive pasture dairy system was considered to calculate direct and indirect water use.Group 1 was fed with a diet containing 20% crude protein content.The crude protein content of Group 2 was adjusted according to milk production, ranging from 23% to 14.5%.The total water footprints had a value of 502.4 L kg-1 fat protein corrected milk for Group 1 and 451.2 L kg-1 fat protein corrected milk for Group 2.The diet with the adjusted protein provided a reduction of 10% in the footprint value.The green water footprint was the most representative of consumption in the total value of the water footprint, 86.4% and 85.5% for Groups 1 and 2, respectively.The animals in Group 1 had a mean total drinking water consumption of 83.3 L animal-1 day-1 and those of Group 2, 80.4 L animal-1 day-1.This study demonstrated that high crude protein content in the diet provided a greater water footprint, therefore lower water efficiency.The proposed nutritional practice proved viable as a water-mitigating action, making the ratio of liters of water per liter of milk more advantageous.The results of this study could be considered a validation of a nutritional mitigation practice to improve water efficiency and could be used as best management for the dairy supply chain.
