Effect of Poultry Litter Inclusion in the Ration of Lactating Cows Fed Green Oat Nutrient on Utilization and Milk Production

Twenty four lactating crossbred cows were divided into four groups of six animals each in completely randomized block design and fed diet for 90 days. Mean daily DM intake varied between 10.01 to 10.66 kg/cow/day during 0 to 90 days containing various levels of poultry litter (0 - 55.56%). Milk production of the cows fed various rations varied between 6.027 to 6.64 kg per cow per day. Maximum milk production 6.648kg/cow/day observed on the diet containing concentrate mixture containing without poultry litter. Feeding of concentrate mixture containing 55.56% poultry litter caused lowest milk production (6.03 kg/cow/days) but average milk production did not change significantly due to the dietary treatments. The total solid content of the milk varied between 12.95 to 13.37%. DM digestibility varied from 63.47 to 60.83%, it was highest on ration with no poultry litter and lowest on the ration having 55.65% poultry litter. Milk production has a significantly positive correlation with the organic matter digestibility and had significant negative correlation with the fat and protein content of the milk. Present experiment showed that up to 50% of concentrate protein can be replaced by poultry excreta without significant reduction in milk production on oat based feeding of lactating animals.