Feeding Practices and Nutritional Status of Lactating Buffaloes at Farmer's Field in Semi Arid Region- A Case Study

Eight lactating buffaloes in early lactation were studied in the farmer's field in Tonk district of Rajasthan. Milk yield (kg/d) was recorded and milk samples were analysed for its composition for assessing the nutritional status of the buffaloes. The farmers offered 4 kg wheat straw twice a day at 0400 and 1400 h, 1.5 kg boiled cotton seed at 0400 h, 0.75 kg each soaked guar churi and solvent extracted cotton seed cake (SECSC) at 1400 h. The farmers also offered 10 kg sorghum green fodder. The residue of wheat straw was 1 kg/d whereas no residue was observed for other feed ingredients. The body length, height, heart girth and paunch girth was 143.0, 136.8, 202.4 and 237.4 cm, respectively. On the basis of body score, the average body weight of buffaloes was 567.4 kg. The average daily milk yield of buffaloes was 7.06 kg during the peak summer. Milk protein, fat and total solids content was 3.9, 7.8 and 15.5%, respectively. There was deficit of CP and DCP to the tune of 409 and 386 g respectively, whereas TDN was deficit by 1.39 kg. The study revealed that lactating buffaloes were undernourished and there is need to disseminate the technical knowledge on optimum feeding of buffaloes to the farmers in arid region so that they can harvest optimum production from buffalo farming.