Organic and mineral composition of Gomeya (cow dung) from Desi and crossbred cows – A comparative study

Gomeya (cow dung) from desi (non-descript Indian) and crossbred cows was compared for their organic and mineral composition. For this purpose, samples of the cow dung were collected from a herd of healthy crossbred and desi cows from a private dairy of Bareilly (India). These animals were fed a common basal diet comprised of concentrate mixture (CM) and wheat straw (WS) in 30:70 ratio. Concentrate mixture contained wheat bran (800 g/kg) and mustard cake (200 g/kg). Collection of cow dung samples was done continuously for 6 days after 21 days of controlled experimental feeding. Chemical composition of the cow dung revealed that while there was no difference in the organic matter (OM), nitrogen (N) and manganese (Mn) contents in the two types of cow dung, contents of calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) were higher by 10.8, 8.0, 84.1 and 21.7 percent in the dung of desi cows as compared to that of crossbred cows.