EFFECT OF SUPPLEMENTATION OF CHOPPED VERSUS UNCHOPPED WHEAT STRAW WITH UREA MOLASSES BLOCKS FED TO BUFFALO CALVES - I. H. Mirza; M. I. Anjum; M. A. Mirza; A. Azim; A. G. Khan (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2008)
Sixteen male buffalo calves, with an average age of 18 months, and average body weight of 160 + 16 kg were used for the present study. Chopped wheat straw (CS) + urea molasses blocks (UMB) having cottonseed meal (UMBC); Unchopped wheat straw (US) + UMBC; CS + UMB having sunflower seed meal (UMBS); and US + UMBS were treatment I, II, III and IV, respectively. Average daily UMB intake (grams/head) remained same (P>0.05) across all four treatments and was: 941, 829, 808 and 814 for treatment I, II, III and IV, respectively. Daily wheat straw intake (grams/head) in treatment I (2210) and III (2315) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than treatment II (1623) and IV (1793). Feed conversion ratio was found to be 10.98, 25.81, 15.61 and 31.4 for treatments I, II, III and IV, respectively, and treatment I and III differed (P<0.05) from other 2 treatments. Dry matter, crude protein, crude fibre and total ash digestibilities remained similar (P>0.05) across all treatment. Daily net benefit (Rs/h) was 15.52, 2.64, 9.65 and 1.93 for treatments I, II, III and IV, respectively. It can thus be concluded that CS gave better intake, weight gain, and economics than untreated straw, and UMBC was better than UMBS.
Keywords: journal article; Urea molasses block; Sunflower seed meal; Cottonseed meal; Wheat straw; Buffalo calves