A Survey on Feeding Practices and Nutritional Status of Dairy Animals in Madhya Pradesh

A field study was conducted to collect the information regarding existing feeding practices and the nutritional status of the dairy animals in Indore district of M.P. It was observed that animals were not fed with balanced ration and the traditional practice of feeding straw along with oil cakes alone was followed. The main feeds were wheat straw, wheat bran, pulse chuny and cotton seed cake. Feeding of greens was rare and mineral mixture as such was absent from the ration. The straw supplied 62.23% of DM and 50.10% of TDN requirement of animals while 94% of DCP was supplied by concentrates and only 6% by greens. The calves were the most neglected animals. The production level of animals was also very poor, the average for cows being 6.12 and for buffaloes 4.66 Kg/day. Thus it can be concluded that there is large scope for improvement in the nutritional status of the animals by adopting improved feeding practices.