Nutritional status of lactating dairy cattle under rural feeding management in Mizoram

Abstract

The study was to assess nutritional status of lactating dairy cattle in Mizoram. Information on feeding management and feed-stuffs of lactating cows were collected from randomly selected dairy farmers of Bawngkawn, Durtlang and Shiphir areas of Mizoram. Study revealed use of local forest grasses and tree fodders (MGTF) with concentrate mixture (CM) to dairy cows. The average dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) intakes (kg/animal/day) were 13.72±0.27, 1.57±0.03 and 6.88±0.10, indicating inadequate intakes based on body weight, milk yield and milk fat % of dairy cows. The MGTF was found rich in macro and microminerals. The digestibility of nutrients was poor including crude protein (CP) 47.26±0.80 to 52.14±0.58%, ether extract (EE) 43.49±0.93 to 49.33±0.61%, crude fibre (CF) 41.67±1.39 to 47.06±0.58. It was concluded from the study that inadequate DM, CP and TDN intakes and poor digestibility of nutrients might be responsible for poor productivity of dairy cows under rural feeding management in Mizoram.