Effect of level of concentrate supplement to sorghum fodder based diet on rumen fluid and blood metabolites in crossbred heifers Dejene Mesfin1, Kumar Ashok*, Saxena Prasoon Chand, Garg Nidhi, Kumar Ripusudan Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar 263 1 45, India. *E-mail: kumar_a47@rediffmail.com
1Sirinka Agricultural Research Centre, P.O. Box. 74, Woldia, Ethiopia. Abstract Sixteen crossbred (Sahiwal × Jersey) heifers of about the same age and body weight were randomly divided in to 4 groups of 4 each to study the effect of 4 levels of concentrate supplementation (0, 0.75, 1.5 and 2.0 kg/d/animal), in addition to ad libitum access to green sorghum fodder (GSF) variety Rio at two stages of growth [75–82 DAS (stage I) and 105–112 DAS (stage II)] on dry matter intake (DMI) and some rumen fluid and blood metabolites. Concentrate level significantly (P < 0.01) affected DMI of the whole ration. When the concentrate level increased from 0 to 2.0 kg/d/animal, total mean DMI went up from 2.68 to 3.55 kg/100 kg BW. However, the increase in concentrate level led to a significant (P < 0.01) decrease in DMI of GSF. Blood serum glucose except blood serum total protein (TP) was significantly (P < 0.01) influenced by the dietary treatments. It was increased form 73.38 to 91.63 mg/dl as the concentrate level in the ration increased form 0 to 2.0 kg/d. The rumen fluid constituents (TP and glucose) were significantly (P < 0.01) influenced by the dietary treatments. An increasing trend was observed with the increase in concentrate level in the ration. The interaction amongst the treatment groups for both rumen fluid constituents (TP and glucose) was also statistically significant (P < 0.05). Top Key words Concentrate level, DMI, blood serum total protein, blood serum glucose, rumen fluid total protein, rumen fluid glucose. Top |