Growth performance and nutrient utilization of Murrah buffalo calves fed ration supplemented with bypass fat prepared from soybean acid oil.

The present experiment was conducted to study the effect of supplementing Ca salts of soya acid oil fatty acids on growth performance and nutrient utilization in buffalo calves. Female Murrah buffalo calves (16) of 6–8 months of age were randomly divided into 2 groups of 8 each (95.00, 94.88 kg BW) and fed concentrate, wheat straw and green oat fodder in 50:15:35 proportion (control group), the same ration plus Ca salts of soya acid oil fatty acids supplemented at 4% of DMI (experimental group) for 120 days. Average body weight gain in experimental group was 69.31 kg, which was 4.40% higher over that of the control group (66.39 kg). Average daily gain was also higher in experimental group 577.60 g/d) as compared to that of control (553.10 g/d). DMI/kg BW gain was 6.67 and 6.00 in control and treatment groups, respectively. There was no effect on DMI and CPI, whereas, TDNI was higher in experimental group as compared to that of control. The digestibility coefficients of DM, OM and CP were similar in both groups except EE which was higher in treatment (87.55%) as compared to that of the control group (78.63%). There was no effect of bypass fat feeding on blood glucose, whereas blood NEFA concentrations and total cholesterol were higher in experimental group as compared to that of the control group. Body composition, viz. water, protein, fat and ash contents, were similar in both groups. It could be concluded that supplementation of Ca salt of soya acid oil fatty acids at 4% of DMI improved the growth rate in Murrah buffalo calves owing to higher TDN intake.