Performance of Lactating Murrah Buffaloes on Sheanut Cake (Vitellaria Paradoxa) Based Complete Diets

Two complete diets were formulated using palm press fibre (20% & 15%) and chopped jowar straw (20% & 25%) as roughage source and sheanut cake (18.5% & 28%) along with locally available concentrate ingredients (roughage concentrate ratio, 40:60) and processed into mash (R II) and (R III) and compared with conventional ration (R I) (chopped jowar straw, green jowar fodder and concentrate mixture fed separately) to study their effect on performance, nutrient digestibility-and cost economics in graded Murrah buffaloes for a experimental duration of 120 days. The average dry matter intake (DMI) per 100 kg body weight were comparable among the rations. The digestibility coefficients of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, ether extract and nitrogen free extract were significantly (P< 0.01) higher, whereas crude fibre, neutral detergent, acid detergent fibre and cellulose (P<0.05) were lower (P< 0.01) on complete diets compared to conventional ration, resulting in higher nutritive value of complete diets. DCP intake was higher (P < 0.01) on complete diets while TDN intake was comparable among groups. The daily average milk yield, milk fat, SNF and total solid percentages, 6% FCM and DMI/kg 6% FCM yield were comparable among all three dietary groups. The DMI/kg milk was 2.08 kg on conventional ration and the values on complete diets R II and R III were 1.91 and 1.87, respectively. The cost of feed/kg 6%FCM was though statistically similar among diets, the incorporation of 28% of sheanut cake and 15% palm press fibre in complete diets reduced the cost of feed by 12.54%. The present study indicated that incorporation of palm press fibre and sheanut cake in complete diets improved the nutritive value and nutrient utilization, without affecting the production and quality of milk yield in lactating buffaloes.