1Department of Veterinary Physiology G Biochemistry, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, India
2Department of Animal Nutrition, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, India
*Corresponding author: J Kaur; E-mail: sachdeva_jasmine@rediffmail.com
Online Published on 22 September, 2022.
A 90 day growth trial was conducted on 10-15 month old male buffalo (Murrah) calves (average initial body weight 252.92+17.0 kg). Twelve calves were randomly distributed into three groups of four animals each. The animals in control group were fed with basal diet consisting of chopped wheat straw, berseem fodder and SBM based conventional concentrate mixture and animals in experimental groups 2 and 3 were fed wheat straw, berseem and concentrate mixtures in which SBM was replaced with DDGS at 50% and 75% levels on N basis, respectively. Digestibility of nutrients and nitrogen balance was comparable in all the groups, indicating RDDGS did not have any adverse effect on nutrient digestibility and nitrogen retention. RDDGS inclusion as a partial replacement of soybean meal had no deleterious effect on blood profile (total protein, cholesterol, triglycerides, BUN, glucose) and the values of all parameters were within the physiological range. Therefore, from the present study, it was concluded that RDDGS can replace soybean meal upto 75 percent in the concentrate mixture of buffalo calves on N basis without any adverse effect on palatability, digestibility of nutrients, nitrogen balance and health of the animals.
• Effect of rice dried distillers grains with solubles (RDDGS) in the diet of buffalo calves.
• RDDGS can be used as replacement of soybean meal upto 75 percent without any adverse effect.
• Blood parameters were within normal physiological range.
DDGS, Digestibility, Blood profile
