National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal - 132001, India
*Present address : Department of Tropical Animal Production, National Agricultural University, P. O. Box 338, AH 6700, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Online published on 5 January, 2012.
A least cost ration analysis revealed that use of paddy straw in the ration reduced the feed cost in both village and city situations compared with the use of wheat straw. The overall feed cost for maintenance.plus milk production and income over feed cost was higher in urban than in rural situations. The comparison between landless households versus farmers indicated that use of paddy straw in the diet did not influence the income over feed cost. However, the maintenance cost of animals owned by fanners was considerably lower than those of landless households (Rs. 0.91 vis a vis Rs. 3.38), especially on wheat straw based diets due to higher cost of wheat straw paid by landless households. It further resulted in higher income (33%) by the farmers compared with landless households. Untreated wheat as well as paddy straw along with other supplements form a maintenace ration and could even support low productions. Treated (4% urea-ammonia) straw can replace better quality fodder upto 10 1 of milk production. However, beyond this only green fodder with concentrates are suitable.
