On Farm Performance of Lambs and Buffaloes Fed Expander Extruder Processed Cotton Stalks Based Complete Diets

Two on farm trials were conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding expander extruder processed complete diet (EEP) containing cotton stalks (CS) as sole roughage source on growth performance and milk production. Thirty Nellore ram lambs (4–5 months old) of uniform body weight were randomly distributed to two dietary groups. One group was fed with EEP diet containing 38.5% CS and other with conventional diet i.e. concentrate mixture and ad lib sorghum stover, fed separately for 180d. The lambs on EEP diet utilized dry matter (DM) and with higher (P<0.01) efficiency and grew with an average daily gain (P<0.01) of 95g in comparison to 70g when fed conventional ration. The cost of feed/kg gain of lambs was lower (P<0.05) on EEP diet. Second On-farm experiment was conducted on 10 graded Murrah buffaloes of uniform milk yield by randomly allotting into two groups. One group fed with EEP diet containing 30% CS and second group fed with conventional diet i.e. concentrate mixture, green hybrid napier and ad lib chopped sorghum stover. The milk, milk fat and 6% FCM yield were higher (P<0.01) in buffaloes fed EEP diet compared to conventional diet, with no effect on milk solids not fat (SNF) content. The DM intake was lower (P<0.01) in buffaloes fed EEP diet (16.40 kg) than those fed conventional diet (17.30kg). Similarly, DM intake/kg 4% FCM was lower (P<0.01) on EEP diet. However, feed cost/kg FCM was higher on EEP diet. These results indicated that cotton stalks could be used as roughage source in complete diets for growing lambs and lactating buffaloes yielding up to 10 litres of milk.