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Some factors affecting voluntary food intake in buffaloes. 1. Effect of feeding long-chopped and ground roughages
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2009
Summary
Three experiments each utilizing four buffalo heifers in 4 × 4 latin square designs were conducted over a period of 84 days to estimate the voluntary consumption of eight long-chopped and four ground roughages. Voluntary intake and rate of passage were determined during the last 10 days and digestibility of feed nutrients during the last 6 days of a 21-day experimental period.
The mean daily dry-matter intake (DMI, g/kg W0·75), D.M. digestibility (%) and mean retention time (h) of long and chopped foods were 81·6, 65·7, 75·2; 81·4, 54·2, 60·3; 78·0, 58·6, 66·0; 75·8, 58·5, 66·3; 67·5, 68·1, 87·9; 62·1, 40·9, 73·3; 56·3, 50·6, 70·9 and 55·5, 58·8, 82·4, respectively for maize silage, sorghum stover, dry grass, maize stover, berseem hay, wheat straw, pearl-millet stover and cowpea hay. Appreciable differences were observed between feeds in the digestibility of D.M., organic matter (OM) and crude protein (CP). No consistent pattern in level of intake and either CP or crude fibre (CF) contents of feeds or their D.M. digestibilities was discernible. The relationship between DMI and D.M. digestibility was low (r = 0·29). Higher DMI of feeds tended to be associated with faster rate of passage excepting maize silage and berseem hay. The relationship between D.M. digestibility and mean retention time was low (r = 0·46) and between total digestible nutrient intake and body weight was high (r = 0·79).
The mean daily DMI (g/kg W0·75), D.M. digestibility (%) and mean retention time (h) of ground roughages were 68·7, 51·3, 58·0; 62·9, 38·4, 60·0; 62·4, 40·1, 63·0; 53·1, 66·6, 72·0, respectively for ground maize stover, wheat straw, dry grass and berseem hay. Ground roughages appeared to be utilized less efficiently by buffaloes than longchopped roughages.
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