Nutrient Digestibility and Cost Effectiveness of Maize Stovers and Maize Cobs as Replacement of Wheat Straw in Total Mixed Ration and their Effect on Growth Performance in Nili-Ravi Buffalo Calves
Nutrient Digestibility and Cost Effectiveness of Maize Stovers and Maize Cobs as Replacement of Wheat Straw in Total Mixed Ration and their Effect on Growth Performance in Nili-Ravi Buffalo Calves
Muhammad Iqbal Anjum*, Shahbaz Javaid, Agha Waqar Yunus, Faisal Ashfaq and Javed Iqbal
ABSTRACT
To examine the utilization of maize stovers (MS) and maize cobs (MC) as replacement of wheat straw (WS) in Total Mixed Ration (TMR) for buffalo calves, 18 calves (aged 14±2 months weighing 189±15 kg) were randomly divided into six equal groups. Six TMRs [iso-nutritious with 12% CP and 68% TDN] having crop residues MS, MC and WS each supplemented with 75% and 65% concentrate (C) were formulated as: T1) MS to C ratio of 25:75%, T2) MS to C ratio of 35:65%, T3) MC to C ratio of 25:75%, T4) MC to C ratio of 35:65%, T5) WS to C ratio of 25:75% and T6) WS to C ratio of 35:65%. These TMRs were offered ad libitum along-with 5 kg green fodder to each calf for 100 days. Daily feed intake, body weight gain and nutrient digestibility during last 5-days were recorded of individual animals. The calves fed TMR with 25% MC attained significantly higher weight gain (830 g/d, P<0.05), followed by the calves fed TMR with 35% MC (760 g/d) whereas, those fed TMR with 35% MS got lowest weight gain (687 g/d). Similarly, better feed conversion ratio (6.63) was observed in calves fed 25% MC based TMR while poor (7.90) FCR was observed in TMR with 35% WS. Intake of calves for dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF), among all the groups was similar, however, except ADF, digestibility of DM, CP and NDF was significantly (P<0.05) higher in calves fed TMR with 25% MC and lower in those fed 35% WS based TMR. Cost of feed per kg gain was lowest (Rs 128) in calves fed TMR with 35% MC and it was highest (Rs. 167) in both TMRs with 25% WS and 35% WS, respectively. In conclusion, TMR with 35% MC is better in terms of feed cost per kg gain in buffalo calves compared to other rations used in this study.
To share on other social networks, click on any share button. What are these?
