Nutritive Value of some Economic Rations for Buffaloes

Twelve male adult buffaloes (3-3 yrs; 420-535kg) were randomly divided into 3 equal groups and fed individually either a conventional concentrate mixture (Gp I) or a concentrate mixture where the deoiled groundnut cake (DOGNC) and wheat bran (WB) were substituted partially (Gp 2) or completely (Gp 3) by deoiled mustard cake (DOMC) and deoiled rice bran (DORB) for 21 d. The digestibility coefficients of various nutrients were not significantly affected by either partial or complete replacement of DOGNCand WB with DOMC and DORB. N balances in all the groups were positive and non-significantly different. Concentrate mixtures fed to groups 2 and 3 having partial or complete replacement of DOGNC and WB were 20 and d2 per cent cheeper than anncentrate mixture fed to Gp1. The DM intake of animals fed concentrate and roughage in the ratio of 1:2.7 varied from 1.63±0.07 to 1.70±0.05 kg/100 kg B.wt. The DCP and TDN values of the three concentrate mixtures were not significantly different A slight decrease in the TDN value of concentrate mixture fed to animals in Gp 3 was minor as compared to the benefit as indicataed by cost benefit ratio.