Performance of crossbred heifers on grainless ration

A feeding trial was conducted to assess the effect of grainless ration on the growth of heifers. Crossbred (Jersey x Tharparkar) heifers (12; 231.6±12.25 kg BW), divided into 3 equal groups were offered either conventional ration (R₁), ration in which barley grains were completely replaced with wheat bran (R₂ and R₃) for 30 days. Groundnut cake in R₂ was completely replaced with mustard cake (R₃). Concentrate mixture met 60% of the protein requirement and the rest 40% was met through berseem hay. Sorghum silage was offered ad lib as basal roughage. The replacement of barley grain by wheat bran did not have any significant effect on nutrients intake, their digestibility, live weight gain and blood profile. It was concluded that conventional cereal grains (barley) and groundnut cake could be replaced with wheat bran and mustard cake without any adverse effect on the performance of crossbred heifers.