Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, College of Agriculture, Nagpur, 440 010 (India)
Online published on 29 December, 2011.
Three groups of six crossbred milch cows (Av. yield 3.32 kg/h/d in mid lactation) were fed on three concentrate mixtures (CM) In switch over manner i.e. regular CM without wheat (T1-control), CM containing 1 kg crushed (non-sprouted) wheat (T2) and CM with sprouted wheat (1.84 kg) equivalent to 1 kg original wheat (T3) Jn order to investigate the effect of sprouted wheat on performance of crossbred lactating cows. CP level of T2 and T3 CM was balanced equivalent to T1 (18.91%) by Incorporating groundnut cake. Feeding of sprouted wheat raised milk fat content by 7.64% without affecting milk yield as compared to feeding of 1 kg non-sprouted wheat. Similarly, feeding of sprouted wheat produced 22.50% more milk (P<0.05) with higher fat content (higher by 17.69%) than feeding of control CM without wheat.
Sprouted wheat, Milk yield, Milk quality, Ascorbic acid
