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 withmaize silage on dry matter intake, weight gain and feed efficiency in male buffalo calves. Total of 18no. of young male buffalo calves with body weight of 250 + 20 kg and having age around 24 monthswere randomly distributed into three groups containing 6 in each group.A diet of 16% Crude Proteinand 2.1 Mcal/kg energy was prepared and fed to calves at the rate of 1% of live body weight in allexperimental groups. Apart from concentrate, 16 kg of maize fodder was offered to each calves ofgroup A, 08 kg of maize fodder and 08 kg of maize silage to animals of group. Whereas 16kg of maizesilage was individually given to buffalo calves of group C. The experiment was continued for 90 daysfollowed by 10 days which were served for adjustment period. The group A, B and C had dry matterintake (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 dailyweight gain. The average daily growth rate was 0.90, 0.92 and 0.91 kg for groups A, B and Crespectively. The feed efficiency (feed intake per unit gain) of group C was the lowest i.e. 5.18followed by group B 5.54 and highest feed efficiency value was 6.13, observed in group A. Thedifference was significant (P<0.0001) for feed efficiency