Abstract
A feeding trial of 84 days duration was conducted on 12 Nili-Ravi buffaloes. They were randomly divided into two groups (A it 13) of six animals each and fed sorghum silage and green fodder to meet maintenance requirements and concen-trate for production requirements. Average daily consumption of sorghum silage and green fodder on dry matter basis was 8.49 ± (108 kg and 8.26 ± 0.07 kg, while values for the concentrate intake for silage and green fodder groups respectively, were 3.01 ± 0.02 and 2.97 ± 0.02 kg. Statistical analysis indicated that animals in group A (fed sorghum silage) produced significantly more milk on as such basis as well as on FCM basis as compared to those fed green fodder (group B). Non-sig-nificant differences were found regarding milk composition. The results of the pre-sent study suggested that silage feeding can be practised as a substitute for green forage to a great extent in dairy animals during the periods of fodder scarcity.
INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS
The supply of adequate amount of fod-der is considered as the key to get ideal pro-duction from mulch animals. Due to seasonal fluctuations, animals are subjected to scarcity of fodder in Pakistan, leading to lowered production which in turn results in heavy monetary losses to the owners. The possible solution lies in the preservation of surplus fodder. Buffalo population in Pak-istan has been estimated to be 143 million as against the cattle population which is 17.6 million (Anonymous, 1989-90). Inspite of their lesser number, buffaloes contribute about 74% of the total milk production. Be-cause of being palatable, succulent and one of the most practical fodder preservation systems, silage is the most effective substi-tute for green fodder especially during scarcity period. This project was therefore, designed to study the effect of silage on the production and composition of milk in Nili-Ravi buffaloes.
This study involved 12 Nili-Ravi buf-faloes at approximately the same stage of lactation and with about the same milk yield maintained at the .Livestock Experiment Station, University of Agriculture, Faisal-abad. The buffaloes were randomly divided into two feeding regimes (A and B) with 6 animals in each. The duration of the ex-periment was 84 days. The animals in feed-ing regime A were fed sorghum silage, while those in B were given green fodder to meet maintenance requirements, Concentrates were given to the buffaloes in both groups to meet the production requirements at the rate of 1 kg/2.5 litres of milk produced.
