Nutritional and Reproductive Status of Heifers in District Kupwara of Kashmir Valley

An investigation was conducted in nine villages of Kupwara district to find out the macronutrient status (DM, DCP, TDN) of feeds and fodders, existing feeding practices and nutritional status of heifers. For this purpose fifteen farm families from each of nine villages were randomly selected for the study. Data was collected from the selected farmers through a questionnaire. The average body weight (kg) of heifers was 75.87 ± 2.25, 71.01 ± 1.40 and 68.71 ± 1.35 in Kupwara, Handwara and Karnah tehsils respectively. The daily intake of concentrate (kg) for heifers was 1.70 ± 0.18, 3.14 ± 0.12 and 0.59 ± 0.05 in Kupwara, Handwara and Karnah tehsil respectively. The daily intake of roughage (kg) was 3.50 ± 0.13, 3.68 ± 0.32 and 2.31 ± 0.28 in the respective tehsils. The daily DM intake was observed to be 22.9, 46.78 and 6.8% excess for heifers in Kupwara, Handwara and Karnah tehsils respectively. The daily DCP intake was deficit by 10.24 and 80.16 per cent in Kupwara and Karnah tehsils respectively while in Handwara tehsil DCP intake was 17.6 per cent surplus than their requirement. The daily intake of TDN was excess to the tone of 45.85, 60.0 and 18.54 per cent in the respective tehsils.