Dietary inclusion of maize spent liquor on intake and nutrient utilization in buffalo bulls

In a 4 × 4 Latin square design LSD, 4 Murrah buffalo bulls (311.71 ± 10.73 kg, 4 yrs) were used to study the effect of feeding maize spent liquor (MSL) at 0 (T₁), 4 (T₂), 6 (T₃) and 8 (T₄) kg on intake and nutrient utilization. The daily DMI (Kg/d, Kg/100 kg BW or g/kg W^0.75) increased (P>0.05) in buffalo bulls with incorporation of MSL in the diet as compared to the control. The digestibility of all the nutrients except NFE did not vary significantly. The (%) DCP and TDN were 4.04 ± 0.16, 59.64 ± 1.26; 5.68 ± 0.30, 60.26 ± 1.18; 6.31 ± 0.09, 63.51 ± 1.37 and 6.98 ± 0.02, 58.18 ± 2.27, respectively in T₁, T₂, T₃ and T₄ groups. All the animals showed positive N, Ca and P balance. The studies on rumen fermentation pattern indicated that the pH was relatively stable but there was a significant increase (P<0.05) in rumen ammonia nitrogen and TVFA with an increase in the level of MSL in the diet. The rumen ammonia nitrogen and TVFA were 7.35 ± 1.13, 117.75 ± 8.33; 11.72 ± 2.12, 137.19 ± 13.3; 12.51 ± 1.82, 183.93 ± 31.2 and 14.09 ± 2.21, 192.30 ± 31.22 in T₁, T₂, T₃ and T₄ groups, respectively. The present study revealed that maize spent liquor can be fed safely up to 8 kg/day/bull as a supplement in addition to routine feeding without any adverse effect.