Performance of Murrah Buffaloes Fed Expander Pelleted Cotton Straw Based Diets Nagalakshmi D.*, Reddy D. Narsimha, Kumar M. Kishan1 Feed Technology Unit, Department of Animal Nutrition Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University Rajenderanagar, Hyderabad-500 030, India. *Reprint request: Dr. D. Nagalakshmi, Tel: +91-40-4017211; Fax: +91-40-4017002; E-mail: pdpoult@ap.nic.in
1Livestock Research Institute, College of Veterinary Science, ANGRAU, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500 030, India. Abstract Cotton straw was incorporated as sole source of roughage (30%) in a complete diet and expanded into pellets. This diet was compared with a conventional ration consisting of concentrate mixture, limited quantity of green fodder and ad libitum sorghum straw. These feeds were fed individually to 12 graded Murrah buffaloes (6 in each group) for 180 days in a feeding-cum-digestion trial using completely randomized design. The dry matter (DM) consumption was higher (P < 0.05) when fed expanded complete diet (15.54 kg/d) in comparison to conventional diet (14.64 kg/d). However, the DM intake/100 kg body weight was similar in both the groups and was higher than the standard recommended requirements. The buffaloes fed expanded complete diet recorded higher (P < 0.01) crude protein (CP), ether extract, cell content and gross energy (P < 0.05) digestibilities compared to those fed conventional ration. The digestibility of other nutrients and fibre fractions remained comparable. The digestible CP, digestible and metabolisable energy of expanded complete diet was higher (P < 0.01) but total digestible nutrients were similar compared to conventional ration. The milk yield was similar in both the groups. The 4% FCM, fat % and fat yield in milk was higher (P < 0.05) when fed expander pelleted diet. The DM intake/kg FCM production was 1.88 kg on complete diet and 2.41 kg on conventional diet. The expander processing increased (P < 0.01) the cost of feed, however, the cost of feed/kg FCM of expanded complete diet was comparable to that of conventional ration. The results of the present study indicated that cotton straw could be fed to lactating buffaloes as roughage source. Top Key words Cotton straw, Expander processing, Buffaloes, Digestibilities, Milk. Top |