Comparative nutrient utilization, enteric methane emission and rumen fermentation in murrah buffaloes, Tharparkar and Vrindavani cattle maintained on similar plane of nutrition

An experiment was conducted on 18 animals, 6 from each Murrah buffaloes, Tharparker and Vrindavani cattle to compare the nutrient utilization efficiency, methane emissions and rumen fermentation. The animals were fed wheat straw and concentrate mixture to meet their nutrient requirement for a period of 60 days. The total dry matter intake and digestibility of all the nutrients (dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre) were similar in all the three groups. The enteric methane emission (l/kg DDMI) was also similar among the three groups. There was no difference in rumen pH, metabolites (ammonia-N, volatile fatty acids, lactic acid) and activities of carboxymethylcellulase, xylanase and protease in the breeds. The population density of total bacteria, Ruminococcus flavefaciens, Fibrobacter succinogenes, total fungi and methnaogens was also similar in the animals of all the three categories. The study revealed that the Murrah buffaloes, Vrindavani and Tharparkar performed similarly in terms of nutrient utilization efficiency, methane emissions and rumen fermentation when fed roughage based diet.