Mineral status of feeds, fodder and tree leaves for dairy animals in Jorhat district of Assam

A field survey was carried out in six blocks of Jorhat district of Assam to assess the existing feeding practices and mineral status of feeds, fodder and tree leaves commonly fed to the dairy animals. The prevalent feeding system was of semi-intensive type, letting the animals loose during the day time and housing in stalls in the evening. Offering concentrate was not a routine practice. However, some farmers used homegrown cereal byproducts like rice polish/rice bran with common salt or concentrate available in the local market. They generally used roughages mainly paddy straw along with cultivated grasses/jungle pasture grasses for feeding to their animals in the evening. Use of tree fodders was very common during rainy season and in lean periods. The pooled concentrate was found to be optimal in (on DM basis) Ca (0.76 mg%), Fe (96.03 mg/kg) and Mg (0.47 mg%), but deficient in Cu, Zn, Mn and K. The Cu, Zn and Mg were deficient in paddy straw. The cultivated green grasses were optimal in Ca, Fe, Mn and K, but were deficient in Zn and Mg. The Cu, Mn and Zn contents of the tree leaves were variable, whereas the Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn and K concentrations were above the recommended critical levels for the dairy animals. Thus, this study provides valuable information for formulating a balanced mineral supplementation taking into consideration the mineral status of concentrate, fodders and tree leaves to support optimum productivity of the dairy animals.