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Effects of plane of nutrition on growth, feed intake, digestibility and nitrogen balance in Murrah graded male buffalo ( Bubalus bubalis ) calves in Nepal
Author(s) -
KUMAGAI Hajime,
BARAL Bodh R.,
SHIINO Tatsu,
DEVKOTA Naba R.,
OISHI Kazato,
HIROOKA Hiroyuki,
KOLACHHAPATI Mana R.,
TIWARI Ishwor C. P.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
animal science journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.606
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1740-0929
pISSN - 1344-3941
DOI - 10.1111/j.1740-0929.2011.00928.x
Subject(s) - bubalus , murrah buffalo , dry matter , zoology , straw , body weight , urea , nitrogen balance , neutral detergent fiber , biology , chemistry , nitrogen , agronomy , biochemistry , endocrinology , ecology , organic chemistry
An experiment was conducted using 17 male buffalo calves to assess the effects of plane of nutrition on dry matter intake (DMI), daily gain (DG), body size measurement, apparent digestibility and nitrogen (N) balance. To attain 250 kg BW, the calves were allocated into three groups: H, L‐H and L, receiving the concentrate at 1.50% of BW, 0.75% of BW until 190 kg BW and 1.50% thereafter and 0.75% of BW, respectively. The animals had ad libitum access to urea‐treated rice straw (UTRS). The DMI of UTRS through the experiment was higher in L and L‐H than H, showing 3.52, 2.90 and 2.62 kg/day, respectively ( P < 0.01), but the total DMI did not differ among the treatment groups. The DG throughout the experiment was high in the order of H, L‐H and L, showing 0.72, 0.57 and 0.45 kg, respectively ( P < 0.01). The digestibility of DM, organic matter, crude protein, neutral and acid detergent fiber and N retention were higher in H than in L ( P < 0.05). The findings of this study thus revealed the greater DG has an advantage of shortening the growing period around 3 months, and consequently increasing benefit in fattening of buffalo calves in Nepal.