3.3 Results and Discussion
3.3.1 Effect of TMR on Milk Yield and Nutrients Digestibility in Crossbred Cows
The bio‐mass yield and protein content of different fodder crops used in the experiment are presented in Table 3.2. The productivity of cereal crop was observed higher than the leguminous forages in rainy season whereas opposite trend was observed in winter season. Number of cuts of fodder actually made the difference of biomass yield. The values on fodder biomass yield corroborate with the findings of Pandey and Roy (2011), Gupta and Dey (2015), and Gupta et al. (2016). The DM content of forages varied from 11.65 to 17.19% while CP content varied from 8.72 to 11.14% for cereal forages and 15.30 to 15.83% in leguminous forages. The DM and protein content of cereal (sorghum and oat) and leguminous (berseem and rice bean) fodder are in close agreement with the finding of Banerjee (2000), Gupta and Dey (2015), and Gupta et al. (2016). The minute variations in compositions may be attributed to variety of forage, soil quality, number of cuts, and management practices adopted. Feeding of TMR resulted in higher DMI (kg/100 kg body weight) by 15.92 and 2.41%, respectively in T1 group in both the experiments in comparison to group T2 where feeds were offered separately (Table 3.3). Significantly higher (p < 0.01) DMI was observed in T1 (TMR fed) during experiment 1 (rainy season) when multicut sorghum was used as green fodder. However, total DMI did not differ significantly between groups in experiment II (winter season). This may be attributed to the succulent form of forage oat and berseem which included both in TMR and separate feeding system. Higher intake of DM, CP, and DE was also observed by Khan et al. (2010) in crossbred cows fed densified complete feed. Gupta et al. (2016) observed that feeding of concentrate feed at 1.5% of body weight in TMR increased DMI in crossbred heifers. However, Kajla et al. (2019) reported that DM intake was nonsignificant in TMR and non‐TMR groups in crossbred cows. Similar results were also reported by Raja Kishore et al. (2013), who observed nonsignificant DM intake (kg/day) in TMR and non‐TMR fed buffalo bulls. This may be attributed to the sorting of feed ingredients by animals fed roughage and concentrate separately.
Table 3.2 Season‐wise production potential of different fodder.
| Particulars | Total forage yield (t/ha) | Average DM (%) | Average CP (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rainy season | |||
| Multicut Sudan (threecuts at 60, 105, and 145 d) | 74.78 ± 2.92 | 14.48 | 8.72 |
| Rice bean (single cut at 90 d) | 35.67 ± 1.52 | 17.19 | 15.30 |
| Winter season | |||
| Berseem (four cuts at 50, 85, 115, and 145 d) | 67.84 ± 1.22 | 11.65 | 15.83 |
| Oat (two cuts at 50 and 105 d) | 28.23 ± 0.64 | 14.18 | 11.14 |
Table 3.3 Performance of crossbred cows fed on TMR.
| Particulars | Experiment I | Experiment II | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | T2 | T1 | T2 | |
| Days in lactation (d) | 98 ± 28.50 | 84 ± 31.50 | 246 ± 19.50 | 222 ± 2.50 |
| Av. body wt. (kg) | 362 ± 20.50 | 385 ± 19.00 | 354 ± 42 | 360 ± 32 |
| Av. DMI (kg/100 kg body wt.) | 3.14 ± 0.06a | 2.64 ± 0.03a | 4.14 ± 0.28 | 4.04 ± 0.23 |
| DMD (%) | 68.44 ± 1.83 |
68.17 ± 0.62
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