Department of Animal Nutrition, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004, India.
*Reprint request: Dr. M.P.S. Bakshi, 792 Punjab Mata Nagar, Ludhiana-141 004, India, Tel: +91-161-2560370; E-mail: bakshimps@yahoo.com.
A 82 day lactation trial was conducted on 20 multiparous crossbred milch cows arranged in a 2x2 factorial design. The animals were divided equally into 4 groups and were offered either berseem (Trifolium alexandrium) or oat (Avena sativa) hay based rations fed either by conventional feeding system or as total mixed ration (TMR). The experimental protocol involved a digestion trial at the end of the feeding period followed by blood profile assessment besides a parallel rumen fermentation study using eight crossbred male calves. The results revealed that the digestibility of organic matter and neutral detergent fibre was significantly (P < 0.05) higher when the diet was fed as TMR as compared to conventional feeding system. The concentration of total volatile fatty acids and different nitrogen fractions in the strained rumen liquor was significantly higher in animals fed TMR than those fed by the conventional feeding system. Except for the blood urea, other blood parameters were not influenced by the method of feeding. Feeding of animals either by conventional feeding system or as TMR irrespective of the roughage source did not have significant impact on milk yield or its composition. The results revealed that feeding system did not have any significant impact either on milk production or on its composition. Both berseem hay as well as oat hay based complete feeds (TMR) could sustain 15–16 kg of milk production per day.
Total mixed ration, Milk production, Rumen, Blood profile, Nutrient utilisation, Crossbred cows
