Nutritional Availability of Livestock from Different Feed Resources in Kumaon Hills of Uttaranchal

Availability of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and metabolizable energy (ME) for livestock from different feed resources were assessed under different categories of farmers during different seasons of Almora district of Uttaranchal Availability of DM (7.01kg on pooled basis) per livestock unit (350 kg b.wt) was contributed through green fodder (1.90), dry fodder (3.21), concentrate (0.32) and grazing (1.57) round the year. Deficiency of DM, CP and ME was 15.45,32.99 and 18.71 per cent, respectively. In case of different categories of farmers, supply of green fodder and concentrate were higher in large category (>50 Nali) compared to small (<25 Nali) and medium (25–50 Nali). The average deficiency of DM was higher in medium category (18.38%) followed by small (15.54%) and large (11.08%) but did not different significantly. Among seasonal availability of nutrients through green fodder and concentrate was significantly (P<0.05) higher in rainy season whereas through dry fodder in winter as well as in summer season. Deficiency of DM, CP and ME was significantly lower (4.38, 23.47 and 9.89%) in winter and highest (27.32, 42.59 and 31.33%) in summer season. It can be concluded that availability of nutrient was little influenced by land holding capacity of farmers while highly influenced by seasons.