Читать книгу Sustainable Agriculture Systems and Technologies - Группа авторов - Страница 46

For the development of ration, four low‐cost homemade balanced diets were prepared varying in composition of the different ingredients with locally available feed resources and crop residues available with farmers of different agro‐climatic zones of Bihar. Composition of diets has been given in Table 3.1. For the evaluation of the diets, 16 crossbred cows (HF × Indigenous) of similar parity (first and second), age (26–35 months), and body weight (365.2 ± 3.66 kg) were divided into four groups and fed concentrate mixtures I–IV, respectively at rate of 1 kg concentrate per 2.5 kg of milk yield plus 2 kg for maintenance as per the schedule followed by farmers in the region. Wheat straw and Sorghum fodder were offered ad libitum as source of dry and green fodder, respectively. The study was continued for 35 days during which daily milk yield and its compositions were estimated. Before the experiment, all the animals were fed balanced concentrate feed available in the market at the same rate as used in the experiment along with similar green and dry fodder. Pre‐experiment milk yield of each animal was recorded for 15 days, which was compared with the milk yield of experimental period for each group. Other feeding and management practices were the same. Daily feed offered and residues left were collected daily for DM and CP estimation (AOAC 2005). Body weight of each animal was recorded at the beginning and at the end of the experiment for two consecutive days. Based on these data, DMI per 100 kg body weight was calculated. Data were analyzed statistically (Snedecor and Cochran 1994).

Table 3.1 Composition of home‐made balanced concentrate mixtures.