Comparative performance of Angus cattle and swamp buffalo fed ad libitum either a lucerne hay and concentrate ration or pasture hay

Voluntary intake and liveweight gain of Angus cattle (CAP) and swamp buffalo (B) were compared on 2 feeds; ad lib. luceme hay (L) + 1 kg concentrate/animal/day (LC) and nd lib. pasture hay (P) in a 2 x 2 Latin square designed trial. The two hays had similar ME values; L, 8.5 and P 8.7 MJ/MJYkg DM, but differed (P ~0.05) in protein content; L, 14.6% and P IO. 1%. The concentrate was 13.5 MJ ME/kg DM and 14.1% protein. Animals were fed in a feed-lot with individual pens/treatment. Intake was assessed on a group basis for all treatments and individual animal intake was assessed for the P treatments only using slow release chromium capsules. Two, 4 week. experimental periods were preceded by a 2 week feed adjustment period. Liveweight gains showed a species x fed interaction (P ~0.001) with individual treatment gains (kg/day) of; 0.80, -0.54, -0.02, -0.09 for CLC, CP, BLC, and BP groups respectively. Cattle consumed (group assessment) more (P ~0.05) L hay than buffalo; 127 vs 99 g DW kg LWT’.75. The intake of P hay was similar for each species; 102 and 100 g DM/kg LWF’.7s for C and B respectively. The release of Cr,O, from the capsules were similar for the two species (1.56 g/day). Intakes of P hay assessed by the marker technique differed (P <O.OS); 100 and 88 g DiWkg LWl?.7s for the CP and BP treatments respectively. The difference in performance of the two species on P may have been the result of the marginal (for cattle) protein levels. No explanation is given for the poor performance of buffalo on the LC ration.