EFFECT OF GRADED LEVELS OF CONCENTRATE SUPPLEMENTION ON MILK YIELD AND COMPOSITION OF GRAZING WHITE FULANI COWS. IN MAYO-BELWA SUB-HUMID, NIGERIA

Abstract

A 98-day feeding trial was conducted at Sebore Farm along Mayo-Belwa-Ngurore road, Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area (LGA) of Adamawa State to determine the effect of graded levels of concentrate supplementation on milk yield, milk composition, body conformation and live weight changes of White Fulani cows. The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which supplementary feeding improves milk yield and quality of lactating White Fulani cows grazed on mixture of Andropogon gayanus (Gamba grass) and Panicum maximum (Guinea grass). Twelve White Fulani cows weighing average of 250±2.217kg with average age of 5±1.5 years between 2nd and 3rd lactations, were subjected to four dietary treatments: T1 (control), T2 (3kg concentrate), T3 (4kg concentrate) and T4 (5kg concentrate) per head per day. The treatments consisted of three replicates in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) experiment. Milk yield was measured with a cylinder which is graduated in litres. The chemical composition of milk was carried out to determine milk protein, fat, total solids, ash vitamins, minerals, pH and density. The live-weight changes were calculated by subtracting the initial weight from the final weight. The result indicated that milk yield was significantly (P<0.05) different among treatments with T4 showing the highest milk yield of 1.89±0.059 litres per day while T1 had low values of 0.78±0.013 litres per day. The live-weight changes showed a significant (P<0.05) increase with increasing level of supplementation up to 4kg at (T3) but there was no significance (P>0.05) difference between treatments 3 and 4. T2, T3& T4) had significantly (P<0.05) improved milk yield and live weight gain than the control. The study revealed that supplementary feeding of grazing White Fulani cows with concentrate was beneficial. Treatment 4 with 4kg supplementation is therefore recommended based better on milk yield and live-weight gain