Whole-herd optimization with the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System. I. Predicting feed biological values...

Area of Science:

• Animal Science
• Nutritional Biochemistry
• Operations Research

Background:

• The Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS) is a complex model for animal nutrition.
• Optimizing least-cost diets with CNCPS presents challenges due to its nonlinear nature and variable feed characteristics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a linear programming optimizer for least-cost diet formulation using the CNCPS model.
• To enable accurate and efficient diet optimization by linearizing the CNCPS model.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the CNCPS model to generate essential biological values for feed characterization (metabolizable energy, metabolizable protein, passage rate, etc.).
• Incorporated ruminal nitrogen and peptide balances to optimize fiber degradation.
• Set objective function to minimize diet cost, subject to animal requirements and feed availability constraints.

Main Results:

• The linear diet optimizer successfully generated solutions meeting animal requirements with nearly 100% accuracy.
• The CNCPS 4.0 model typically achieved solutions in fewer than six iterations for all dairy cattle classes.
• Demonstrated the effectiveness of the optimizer in formulating least-cost diets for dairy farms.

Conclusions:

• The developed linear optimizer accurately formulates least-cost diets when integrated with the CNCPS model.
• This approach simplifies and enhances the efficiency of animal diet formulation.
• The optimizer provides a practical tool for nutritional management in dairy cattle.