Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology
Year : 2010, Volume : 10, Issue : 1
First page : ( 1) Last page : ( 8)
Print ISSN : 0972-2963.

Effect of Feeding Expander Extruder Processed Complete Diet Containing Sugarcane Bagasse on Performance of Murrah Buffaloes

Nagalakshmi D.*, Reddy D. Narsimha

Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary Science, Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500 030, India.

*Reprint request: Dr. D. Nagalakshmi, E-mail: dnlakshmi@rediffmail.com

Received:  6  December,  2008.

Abstract

A complete diet was formulated with sugarcane bagasse as sole roughage source (28.5%) and processed with expander-extruder. The extruded diet was compared with a traditional system of feeding comprising concentrate mixture, ad libitum chopped sorghum straw and limited quantity of green hybrid Napier (10kg/animal/day) in terms of nutrient utilization and milk characteristics in 12 lactating Murrah buffaloes (6 in each group) for 180 days. The buffaloes consumed less (P<0.01) dry matter (DM) per kg metabolic body weight when fed processed complete diet than those fed conventional ration. However, the DM intakes in both the groups were higher than the standard recommended requirements (Kearl, 1982). The water intake/kg DM intake was higher (P<0.01) in expander extruder processed complete diet fed animals. Blending of bagasse with concentrates and expander extruder processing complete diet resulted in higher (P<0.01) crude protein digestibility. The digestibility of other nutrients and fibre fractions remained comparable among the groups. The digestible crude protein of complete ration was higher (P<0.05) than the conventional ration. The higher (P<0.01) intakes of total digestible nutrients and metabolizable energy by buffaloes fed conventional ration was a reflection of more roughage consumption (61.9% Vs 28.5%) by these animals. Milk yield, fat corrected milk (FCM) yield, fat and SNF % was similar between both the groups. The DMI/kg FCM production was significantly (P<0.05) lower on processed complete diet compared to conventional diet. The cost of feeding/kg milk production was lower (P<0.01) and reduced by 31.53% when expander extruder pellet complete diet containing sugarcane bagasse was fed to animals.

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Keywords

Expander-extruder, Complete diet, Sugarcane bagasse, Buffaloes, Nutrient digestibilities.

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