EFFECT OF REPLACEMENT OF MAIZE FODDER WITH MAIZE SILAGE ON DRY MATTER INTAKE, WEIGHT GAIN & FEED EFFICIENCY IN BUFFALO MALE CALVES

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to examine the replacement of maize fodder with maize silage on dry matter intake, weight gain and feed efficiency in male buffalo calves. Total of 18 no. of young male buffalo calves with body weight of 250 + 20 kg and having age around 24 months were randomly distributed into three groups containing 6 in each group.A diet of 16% Crude Protein and 2.1 Mcal/kg energy was prepared and fed to calves at the rate of 1% of live body weight in all experimental groups. Apart from concentrate, 16 kg of maize fodder was offered to each calves of group A, 08 kg of maize fodder and 08 kg of maize silage to animals of group. Whereas 16kg of maize silage was individually given to buffalo calves of group C. The experiment was continued for 90 days followed by 10 days which were served for adjustment period. The group A, B and C had dry matter intake (DMI) of 4.82, 4.83 and 4.27 kg respectively. They posed a significant difference (P<0.0001) among three groups. Whereas the difference was non significant difference (P=0.39) in terms of daily weight gain. The average daily growth rate was 0.90, 0.92 and 0.91 kg for groups A, B and C respectively. The feed efficiency (feed intake per unit gain) of group C was the lowest i.e. 5.18 followed by group B 5.54 and highest feed efficiency value was 6.13, observed in group A. The difference was significant (P<0.0001) for feed efficiency