Effect of niacin supplementation on the productive performance of buffalo heifers

To assess the effect of niacin supplementation on growth, 12 buffalo heifers (18–20 m old of 224.5 ± 0.4 kg BW) distributed into three equal groups were offered chaffed green sorghum and wheat straw (50: 50) as roughage and concentrate mixture in 70: 30 ratio (T₀). The diet of animals under T₁ and T₂ were supplemented with 500 and 1000 mg niacin/kg of dry matter. The Average DM intake did not vary significantly among different groups. Nutrients digestibility was higher (P<0.05) under T₂ followed by T₁ and T₀ indicating that the fibre utilization was significantly improved due to addition of niacin @ 500 mg per kg dietary dry matter. Total body weight gain was highest (85.5 ± 0.6 kg) under T₂ followed by T₁ (84.2 ±0.8 kg) and T₀ (64.7 ± 1.2 kg), while DM intake per kg gain was lowest (8.1 ± 0.1 kg) in T₂ followed by T₁ and T₀ respectively. The results conclusively revealed that supplementation of niacin at a level of 500 mg/kg DM of the diet significantly improved fibre utilization and growth performance of buffalo heifers.