Effect of cobalt supplementation on nutrient utilization in crossbred cattle fed wheat straw and urea ammoniated bagasse based complete feed

Twelve adult crossbred cattle bulls (mean BW, 363.8±7.15 kg) were divided into three groups of four animals each following completely randomized design. All the animals were fed a common complete feed consisted of 20 parts each of wheat straw and ammoniated sugarcane bagasse and 60 parts of concentrate mixture (30% crushed maize, 15% de-oiled soybean meal, 32% wheat bran, 20% molasses, 2% mineral mixture and 1% common salt) and supplemented with cobalt (as cobalt sulphate) @ 0, 2.5 and 5.0 ppm in group 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Experimental feeding was continued for a period of 30d followed by a metabolism trial. The DM intake was found to be similar (P>0.05) in the three groups with 83.39, 85.12 and 87.27 g/kgW^0.75 in groups 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Intake of OM, CP, DCP and TDN and digestibility of different nutrients viz. DM, OM, CP, EE, NDF, ADF, hemicellulose and cellulose were also comparable (P>0.05) in all the three groups. The intake and balances of N, Ca and P were also similar (P>0.05) among the three groups. Results indicated that the supplementation of cobalt (as cobalt sulphate) @ 2.5 and 5.0 ppm in adult animals fed wheat straw and urea ammoniated sugarcane bagasse based complete feed imparted no effects on intake, digestibility of nutrients and balances of N, Ca and P.