RT Journal T1 EFFECTS OF DIETARY STARCH REPLACEMENT WITH SUGAR ON LACTATION PERFORMANCE OF NILI RAVI BUFFALOES A1 Hina Tahir A1 Saima Naveed A1 Nisar Ahmad A1 Muhammad Asim Tausif A1 Burhan E Azam A1 Sundas Qamar A1 Saba Anwar A1 Abdul Jabbar A1 Muneer Ahmad Khan A1 Muhammad Imran A1 Muhammad Naveed-ul- Haque JF Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences JO JAPS SN 1018-7081 VO 35 IS 3 SP 835 OP 843 YR 2025 FD 2025/06/26 DO DOI https://doi.org/10.36899/JAPS.2025.3.0072 AB

Feeding high starch diet is a common practice to increase milk production and similarly feeding sugars helps in improving milk fats. However, the extent to which trade-off between dietary starch and sugar content is possible for optimal milk production and fats is not fully explored in lactating Nili Ravi buffaloes. Twelve multiparous early-lactating Nili Ravi buffaloes (52 ± 37 d in milk, mean ±SD) received 3 treatments in a 3 × 3 Latin square design and each period consisted of 28 d. The dietary treatments contained starch and sugars in the following manner: 1) 28.7% starch, 2.61% sugar; 2) 25.9 % starch, 4.29% sugar; 3) 22.9% starch, 5.73% sugar on DM basis. All dietary treatments were iso-nitrogenous. Replacing dietary starch with sugar increased milk fat content, milk fat yield and 4% fat-corrected milk (FCM) linearly by 7.29, 13.8 and 11.9% respectively, however, milk yield was not affected by treatments. Similarly, energy-corrected milk (ECM) was also increased by 10.3% by the replacement of dietary starch with sugar. Body weight increased by 2% linearly, whereas, the body condition score remained unaffected as sugar replaced starch. There was a linear increase in plasma cholesterol concentrations, whereas plasma urea nitrogen, glucose, and triglyceride concentrations remained unaffected by increasing sugar. The marginal efficiency of NEL consumed for milk yield, 4% FCM and ECM increased linearly with increasing sugar. Feeding diets containing 22.9% starch and 5.37% sugar increased milk fat content, fat yield, and body weight of Nili Ravi buffalo without impacting on milk production and blood metabolites. Using sugar as a substitute for starch could be a practical option for producers without negatively impacting production.

K1 Buffaloes, milk production, grain starch PB Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum LK https://thejaps.org.pk/AbstractView.aspx?mid=2025-JAPS-15