1Department of Animal Nutrition, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004, India
2Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004, India
3Department of Veterinary Biochemistry, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004, India
*Reprint request: Dr. S. Saijpaul, E-mail: sksaijpaul@rediffmail.com
An experiment of 120d duration was conducted to study the effect of feeding water soaked whole linted cotton seed (WSWLCS) on the feed intake, body weight changes, lactation performance, blood biochemical profile and conception rate of high yielding lactating crossbred cows during the hot and humid climate (June-September). Twenty-two crossbred milch cows were randomly divided into two groups of eleven each on the basis of the average body weight and milk production as control (C) and treatment (T) groups. In the T group, supplementation of WSWLCS @ 5% of their milk yield was made replacing equal quantity of control concentrate mixture. In addition, all the experimental animals were provided ad libitum non-leguminous fodder. The WSWLCS has slightly lower crude protein and considerably higher ether extract, crude fiber, ADF, NDF and ADL values than the concentrate mixture. The total weight loss and the loss per day were similar in both the groups. The values of the total milk yield and related variables were comparable among the groups. The total DM intake, milk yield/kg DMI and FCM yield/kg DMI were also statistically similar in both the groups. The cost of feeding in group T was significantly (P<0.05) higher than the group C. However, the difference in the net profit per animal per day was statistically non-significant. There was also no significant difference between the C and T groups with respect to erythrocyte fragility and hemoglobin levels besides glucose, cholesterol, creatinine, urea nitrogen, uric acid, chloride, calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, alanine amino transferase and aspartate amino transferase levels in plasma. The levels of total protein, globulin and lactate dehydrogenase which were significantly (P<0.05) higher in T relative to C group. However, the values of all the blood biochemical profile of animals in both the groups were within the normal range. The cows fed WSWLSC required less number of artificial inseminations than the control group for the conception. It may be concluded that supplementation of WSWLCS (at 5% of the milk yield) is a good option in the ration of high yielding crossbred cows especially during the hot humid summer.
Cottonseed, Feeding, Lactation, Blood Parameters
