Abstract
The experiment was conducted at Bako agricultural research center to evaluate the effect of EM2 and urea treated finger millet straw supplemented with concentrate mix on feed intake, milk yield and composition of crossbred dairy cows. Four cows of same milk yield, body weight, stage of lactation, but differing parities were arranged in 4x4 Latin square design. The animals were provided with natural grass hay (T1), untreated finger millet straw (T2), EM2 treated finger millet straw (T3) and urea treated finger millet straw (T4) diet ad libitum and all treatments were supplemented with concentrate mix. Results of chemical analysis of the treated finger millet straw showed that the treated straw had good nutritive value. The daily dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) intakes were significantly (P<0.001) different among the treatments with the highest intake observed for cows fed EM2 and urea treated finger millet straw (T3 and T4). Milk yields varied significantly among the dietary treatments with the lower mean milk yield recorded for cows in T1 and T2 as compared to those in T3 and T4. This study indicated that EM2 and urea treated finger millet straw diet increased the net return. Feeding EM2 and urea treated finger millet straw with concentrate mix was found to be an effective approach to maximize the utilization of locally available feed resources for relatively high animal productivity during the dry season for small scale dairy keepers in rural areas. Therefore, the result demonstrated that EM2 and urea treated finger millet straw had better feeding value as compared to untreated finger millet straw and natural grass hay for lactating crossbred dairy cows.
Highlights
Feed represents the largest single expense among the inputs for livestock production
The chemical composition of natural grass hay, untreated finger millet straw, treated finger millet straw and concentrate mixture are presented in the Table 1
The crude protein (CP) contents were high in Urea treated finger millet straw (UTFMS) than Effective microbes treated finger millet straw (EMTFMS) and, untreated finger millet straw (UFMS)
Summary
Feed represents the largest single expense among the inputs for livestock production. Livestock farmers search for inexpensive feed alternatives, especially when conventional feeds are expensive Many of these alternative feeds are byproducts and waste products from the processing of various food and fibre crops, or crop residues, tree leaves, farm animal wastes etc. There is a need to explore the possibility of utilizing novel feed stuffs, agricultural crop residues, and agro-industrial by-products as complete feed allowance in comprehensive feeding scheme to reduce the feed deficiency and to economize the production (Sudheer Babu et al 2013). One of such usable crop residues as ruminant animal feed is finger millet straw. Finger millet straw (FMS) consists of dry stems and leaves
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