Scope and cost-effectiveness of fermented corn straw roughage-based buffalo fattening approach

Objective: This experiment was undertaken to assess the scope and cost-effectiveness of the fermented corn mixture (FCM)-based buffalo fattening approach compared to urea molasses straw (UMS) and silage-based approach. Materials and Methods: A completely comparative randomized design experiment was conducted for 90 days with three treatments and five buffalo bulls in each. UMS, silage, and FCM roughage-based fattening diets were attributed as T 1 , T 2 , and T 3 , respectively. Two types of protein supplements, i.e., Type 1 (Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute-developed) for T 1 and T 2 and Type 2 (prescribed by farmers) for T 3 treatments, were used. All the parameters were analyzed through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, 20 software. Results: Dry matter intake (kg, %live weight) was significantly higher in T 1 (2.65), followed by T 2 (2.34) and T 3 (2.00), respectively. The crude protein intake, digestible crude protein intake, and digestible dry matter intake (kg/d) significantly ( p < 0.05) differed between T 1 and T 3 , but not T 2 . The digestibility of acid detergent fiber (65.97) was significantly higher for T 3 than T 1 and T 2 (54.44 and 58.73, respectively). Neutral detergent fiber digestibility of T 3 (70.35) also differed ( p < 0.05) with T 1 (60.97) but not T 2 (64.78). No difference was observed in the case of growth, but feed conversion ration was found to be significantly ( p < 0.05) better in T 2 (7.10) than T 1 (8.35), where T 3 (7.24) was neutral. The significantly ( p < 0.001) highest expense [216.37 Bangladesh taka (BDT)/kg gain] was required for T 1 , followed by T 2 and T 3 (174.47 and 126.33 BDT/kg gain, respectively). Net profit from T 3 and T 2 (15,877 and 15,175 BDT, respectively) gained significantly ( p < 0.05) higher than T 1 (11,265 BDT). Conclusion: The FCM-based diet was suitable and cost-effective as a buffalo fattening approach.