1Former Principal Scientist; Animal Nutrition Division, DGCN, COVAS, Palampur, Himachal Pradessh
2Associate Professor, Animal Nutrition Division, DGCN, COVAS, Palampur, Himachal Pradessh
3National Dairy Development Board, Anand, Gujarat, India
Animal Nutrition Division, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132001, Haryana, India
*Corresponding author: E-mail: madhu.rana5@gmail.com; Present address: Assistant Professor, LFP, DGCN, COVAS, Palampur-176061, Himachal Pradesh, India
Online published on 29 November, 2018.
The present study was conducted on eighteen female crossbred calves for 120 days to examine the influence of varying dietary cation anion difference (DCAD) based diet on nutrient utilization and growth performance of crossbred calves in winter months. The calves were blocked into three equal groups (n=6) on the basis of average body weight. The calves either received a basal diet (control) or +150 or +250 mEq/kg dry matter DCAD diets in groups W1, W2 respectively. The overall DMI was higher (P<0.05) in treatment groups. The growth rate was more (P<0.05) in group W2 as compared to control. N intake, balance and urine pH increased (P<0.05) with increasing levels of DCAD. It was concluded that positive DCAD diet (+250 mEq/kg DM) increased nutrient intake and body weight gain in crossbred calves during winter months.
Crossbred calves, Dietary cation-anion difference, Growth performance, Nutrient utilisation, Thermal stress
