Growth performance of hariana heifers as affected by varying dietary neutral detergent fibre levels Yadav Vivek Kumar, Kumar Vinod*, Roy Debashis, Kumar Muneendra, Kushwaha Raju, Vaswani Shalini, Kumar Avinash Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry, DUVASU, Mathura-281001, Uttar Pradesh, India *Corresponding author: E-mail: vinodsidhu@gmail.com
Online published on 31 August, 2018. Abstract Present study was conducted to investigate the effect of different concentrations of dietary neutral detergent fiber (NDF) on growth performance in indigenous Hariana heifers. Twenty Hariana heifers of 1 to 2 years of age were randomly allocated into 4 groups (T1, T2, T3 and T4) having 5 animals in each group, on body weight basis. Dietary NDF concentrations were 45.5, 49.8, 54.7, and 59.0% in groups T1, T2, T3 and T4with a concentrate: roughages ratio of 50: 50. Temperature humidity index varied from 77.0 to 80.8. Respiration rate, pulse rate and rectal temperature were similar in all the experimental animals and they were found in normal physiological ranges. Average body weight and body condition score were not affected by different levels of dietary NDF. However, average daily gain was lower in 59.0% NDF group. Feed conversion ratio, overall DM intake, nutrient digestibility and digestible nutrient intake were not affected by different levels of dietary NDF. Dry matter intake (kg/100 kg BW) and total digestible nutrient intake (g/kg W0.75) increased in group given lower percentage of NDF diets as compared to higher NDF rations. In conclusion, the dietary NDF level shoud may be below 50% in Hariana heifers for better daily gain in summers. Top Keywords Growth, Heifers, Neutral detergent fibre, Nutrient utilization. Top |