EFFECTS OF COMPACT FEED BLOCK ON QUANTITATIVE AND
QUALITATIVE PERFORMANCE OF LACTATING BUFFALOES-AN ON-FARM TRIAL STUDY
R. K. TIWARI, PANKAJ NAUTIYAL, GAURAV PAPNAI, MANISHA AND J. P. GUPTA
ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra (ICAR-VPKAS)
Chinyalisaur-249 186, Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand), India
*(e-mail : ravindratiwari77@gmail.com)
(Received : 10 June 2015; Accepted : 29 August 2015)
SUMMARY
An on-farm trial (OFT) was conducted on 15 lactating buffaloes maintained at farmer’s field in the Sunargaon village of district Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand. The buffaloes were selected on the basis of similarity in age, body weight and milk yield. The buffaloes were randomly divided into three groups of five each. Control group (T1) was fed as per farmer’s practices (grazing+feeding of without chaffed hay of forest grass+1.0 kg of barnyard millet). Group T2 was fed T1+home made concentrate mixture (containing cereals-40%, cake 30%, cereals and other by-products 27%, mineral mixture 2% and iodized common salt 1%) @ 1.5 kg/buffalo/day for 90 days and T3 was fed T1+compact feed block (prepared by Uttarakhand Livestock Development Board, Dehradun) @ 4.0 kg/buffalo/day for 90 days. The proportion of roughage to concentrate in CFB was 70 : 30. The body weight of animals was calculated using Schaeffer’s formula before and after the trial. The milk yield of individual animal was recorded daily in the morning and evening. Milk samples were drawn fortnightly and analyzed for milk fat. Final milk yield was higher in group T3 (6.06 l/day) followed by T2 (5.40 l/day) over the T1 (3.48 l/day). There was higher lactometer reading in group T3 (31.3) followed by T2 (30.5) than in group T1 (28.3). Average fat content was higher in group T3 (7.30%) followed by T2 (7.11%) than in group T1 (6.95%). It was concluded that feeding of compact feed block improved milk yield and fat percentage in lactating buffaloes.
Key words:Compact feed block, lactating buffaloes, milk yield and fat per cent