Effect of ration on growth and cost of production during fattening of upgraded Shahiwal bulls

The study was conducted to find out the effect of beef cattle diet on the performance of upgraded Shahiwal bulls at Bangabandhu Academy for Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development (BAPARD) cattle farm in Gopalganj. For this purpose, twelve local x Shahiwal upgraded bulls (L×SH) of average 19 months of age and 169 kg live weight were divided into three equal groups. Three different rations such as: a mixed concentrate ration (T1), mixed concentrate ration and urea molasses straw (UMS) at a ratio of 1:1 on dry matter basis (T2) and green grass (pakchong) based ration without concentrate and UMS (T3) were selected for this experiment. Upgraded bulls were randomly distributed into 3 groups for 3 above different rations. The results found that the average daily live weight gains of three groups was 320g, 315g and 314g respectively, which were not differ significantly (P<0.05). Daily DM intake was significantly higher in T3 (8.1 g/head/day) compared to T1 and T2 (P<0.05), but the digestibility found lower than other treatments. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significant higher in T1 (2.63) but interestingly, cost of per kg live weight gain was the lowest in T3 (85 BDT) compared to other two treatments (P<0.05). Therefore, considering the above factors, it might be stated that a beef ration only with green grass would be the appropriate diet for the floodplains area for local x Shahiwal upgraded bulls.