Performance of crossbred female calves fed complete ration as mash or block vis-à-vis conventional ration.

An experiment was conducted to discern the effect of feeding complete ration as mash or block form in comparison to conventional feeding system on feed intake, growth, nutrient utilization and certain blood biochemical parameters in growing crossbred female calves. Crossbred female calves (15) of 8 – 11 months age were divided into 3 groups of 5 calves each on the basis of body weight. Calves in control, group 1 (G 1) were fed wheat straw ad lib. and concentrate mixture separately as per requirement along with 2 kg green fodder (mixed green oats + mustard + berseem) to each calf daily. The same concentrate mixture as in group 1, wheat straw and green fodder on as such basis in the ratio of 40 : 40 : 20 were blended into uniform mix as complete feed mash and fed to calves in group 2 (G 2), whereas the calves in group 3 (G 3) were fed complete feed processed into block containing the same concentrate mixture, wheat straw and green fodder in the ratio of 40 : 40 : 20 as in group 2 on as such basis and fed ad lib. along with 1 kg green fodder. Feeding trial lasted for 90 days. Average daily weight gain was 509, 556 and 496 g in G 1, G 2 and G 3, respectively. There was no significant difference in average daily weight gain in crossbred calves of different groups, although calves in group 2 fed complete feed mash gained higher body weight than calves in G 1 and G 3. The calves in G 2 fed a complete ration in mash form consumed significantly higher DM/kg W0.75 than the calves in G 3 and equal to calves in G 1 during the whole feeding trial. During the digestion trial, there was no difference in DM intake between G 1 and G 3 and between G1 and G 2, whereas DCP intake (g/kg W0.75) was significantly higher in calves of G 1 and G 2 than in calves of G 3. The digestibility of DM, OM, CP and NFE did not differ significantly among the groups, whereas the digestibility of EE differed significantly, and it was significantly higher in G 2 than in G 1 and G 3. The serum glucose, total protein, albumin and globulin concentrations and SGOT activities were similar among different groups, whereas serum alkaline phosphatase and SGPT activity were significantly lower in G 3 as compared to G 1 but the difference was nonsignificant between G 1 and G 2. It was inferred that feeding of complete ration in mash form is beneficial in terms of feed intake, body weight gain, nutrient utilization and feed conversion efficiency in growing crossbred female calves in comparison to conventional feeding system and also with complete feed in block form.