Ruminants 
Poultry 
Swine 
Fishes / aquaculture
Pet
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of feeding a microencapsulated blend of botanicals and organic acids (AviPlus®R, Vetagro Spa, Reggio Emilia, Italy), on milk production performance and feed efficiency of Holstein cows naturally exposed to heat stress conditions. The trial was conducted in two commercial dairy farms in Torreon, Mexico, from June to September 2024.
Cows (n=2,672) were enrolled and assigned to the study pens (n=10; 5 control and 5 treatment) balanced for parity, milk yield, and DIM. Pens were fed a total mixed ration (TMR) diet either without (Control) or with AviPlus®R supplementation (25 g/cow/d). The study included 1 week of baseline period (covariate), 2 weeks of adaptation, and 8 weeks of data collection.
Cow-level milk yield, body condition score (BCS), health outcomes and body weight (BW, n = 688, primiparous only) data, and pen-level energy-corrected milk (ECM), dry matter intake (DMI), feed efficiency (FE), and milk components were monitored. Statistical analyses included mixed linear and logistic models accounting for repeated measures (when applicable) with treatment, time (week of study), parity, and their interactions as fixed effect. In all models, pen was the experimental unit (pen nested within farm and treatment included as a random effect), and the observational unit (pen vs. the individual animal) varied with the outcome assessed.
Milk production, protein percent, DMI, ECM, BCS and health events were similar between groups. Pens fed AviPlus®R had greater (P≤0.05) milk fat percent on weeks 10-11 and total solids percent on weeks 9-11 than Control. Fat yield (1.21 vs. 1.14 ± 0.01 kg/d) and FE (1.37 vs. 1.33 ± 0.01 kgECM/kgDMI;) were greater (P≤0.05) for pens fed AviPlus®R compared to Control. Cows fed AviPlus®R had lower BW on weeks 5-6, but greater BW on weeks 9-11 (P≤0.01).
These findings suggest that AviPlus®R supplementation may enhance production efficiency by improving FE and milk fat yield while supporting BW and BCS maintenance under heat stress conditions.
