Nutrients intake, physiological and behavioral pattern in cross-bred cow as influenced by different feed supplements during winter

A study was conducted on the fifteen lactating cross-bred for 90 days during winter. Cows were divided into three groups on basis of their milk yield/day and subjected to three dietary treatments were formulated with feed supplements. i.e. concentrate mixture (T1), concentrate mixture + UMMB (T2) and concentrate mixture + Azolla (T3) and the studied for nutrient intake, their physiological and behavioral pattern of crossbred cows. Average maximum and minimum temperature (oC) was 23.470±0.301 and 13.044±0.334 in closed barn. The averages DMI on 100 kg body weight were 2.734+0.189, 2.940+0.168 and 2.837+0.212 kg in T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The mean DCPI & TDNI on 100kg body weight were 0.183±0.021, 0.210±0.018 and 0.190±0.024 & 1.814±0.072, 1.958±0.182 and 1.840±0.144kg in T1, T2 and T3 group’s cows, respectively. The rectal temperature and respiration rate was not significantly affected (P<0.05) by the treatments. The animals spent more time (minutes) in eating during day than in night in all the groups. Average eating time (minutes)/day (24 hours) was more (P<0.05) in T2 (306.22) group as compared to T3 (300.00) and T1(283.95) groups. The average resting time (minutes)/day (24 hours) was higher (P<0.05) in T2) 668.33 (and as compared to T1 )660.89(. It may be inferred that feeding of concentrate mixture on low quality roughage diet with UMMB supplement was improved the nutrient intake, eating time and better physical performance of crossbred cows during winter season. Keyword: Crossbred cows, UMMB, Azolla, Behavioral pattern, Physiological response. Introduction India has the largest population of dairy animals and is also highest producer of milk in the world. India stands first rank in milk production with annual milk production 155.5 million tones and milk availability is 337 g per capita / day. The livestock sector in India contributes to the rural economy by providing milk, meat, wool, manure, urine energy etc. Most of the developing countries are suffering from feed deficits. Nutritional quality of crop residues and other fibrous agro-industrial by products available for animal feeding is not adequate to meet even the maintenance requirements of animals (Ghosh et al, 1993) [6]. Feeding balanced ration plays a crucial role in any livestock development programme in order to exploit optimum genetic potential of animals. To increase the productivity of milch animals through supplementation of these poor quality roughages is necessary to fulfill the deficiency of nutrients by incorporating these in the feeding systems of animals (Sampath et al., 1995) [18]. The research for alternatives to concentrates led us wonderful plant Azolla and UMMB, which holds the promise providing sustainable feed for livestock. Introduction of UMMB lick technology is one of the methods developed in recent year to combat the nutritional status of dairy animals. Several experiments concludes that supplementation of UMMB licks significantly increase feed intake, milk yield, maintained body weight and body conditions score of the cows (Kayastha et al., 2012) [11]. Azolla is a floating fern on the surface of water by means of numerous, small, closely overlapping scale like leaves with their roots hanging in the water. Feed additive are used to enhance the animal performance by improving the balance of microbial flora in the gastrointestinal tract and nutrient utilization as reported by earlier workers (Khadem et al., 2007) [12]. Generally, in villages, Cattle are kept without access to adequate shelter reared on poor quality dry roughages which adversely affect their health and production performance. Keeping this in view, the present study was planned to investigate the Nutrients Intake, Physiological and Behavioral Pattern in Cross-bred Cow as influenced by different feed supplements during winter.