204 Green Berseem as Substitute for Economic Feeding of Dairy Cattle
TABLE X—(contd.)
Groups
75 per cent concentrate
replaced by berseem
Full concentrate
50 per cent concentrate
replaced by berseem
75 per cent concentrate
replaced by berseem
Breed
Hissar .
Murrah .
Average
Amount
of
wheat
straw
con-
sumed
(lb.)
288.2
332.9
310.6
Cost at
Rs.
0.6098
per 100
lb.
(Rs.)
1.76
2.03
1.89
Amount
of
Jowar
silage
con-
sumed
(lb.)
1322
1323
1323
Cost at
Rs.
0.1524
per 100
lb.
(Rs.)
2.02
2.02
2.02
Amount
of
berseem
con-
sumed
(lb.)
2932
3005
2968
Cost at
Rs.
0.1439
per 100
lb.
(Rs.)
4.22
4.32
4.27
Amount
of
con-
centrate
con-
sumed
(lb.)
156.4
162.8
159.6
Cost at
Rs.
3.324
per 100
lb.
(Rs.)
5.20
5.41
5.31
Total
cost
(Rs.)
13.20
13.78
13.49
L. W.
increase
lb.
125
115
120
Experiment II (10 weeks).
Hissar .
Murrah .
Average
Hissar .
Murrah .
Average
Hissar .
Murrah .
Average
253.4
287.9
270.6
187.8
227.2
207.5
191.1
203.3
197.2
1.55
1.75
1.65
1.15
1.39
1.22
1.16
1.24
1.20
474.0
471.5
472.8
461.6
462.5
462.0
488.7
462.5
475.6
0.72
0.72
0.72
0.70
0.70
0.70
0.75
0.70
0.73
...
...
...
1601
1758
1680
2428
2418
2423
...
...
...
2.30
2.53
2.41
3.49
3.48
3.49
394.4
415.8
405.1
200.1
213.2
206.6
105.2
106.6
105.8
13.11
13.81
13.46
6.64
7.08
6.88
3.48
3.55
3.52
15.38
16.28
15.83
10.79
11.70
11.24
8.88
8.97
8.93
94
104
99
60
77
69
53
51
52
Cost
per 100
lb.
increase
(Rs.)
10.56
11.98
11.27
16.40
15.66
16.03
18.00
15.19
16.59
16.70
17.59
17.14
The cost of production decreased with the in-
creased replacement of concentrates by berseem
in the first test, while contrary figures were ob-
tained in the second test. From Table XI, it may
be seen that the rate of growth per day was the
same with full concentrate ration in both the tests,
but the lower growth with berseem was further
lowered in the second test where the animals were,
on an average, younger by five months. The
higher cost was due to lower increase in live-
weight. It appears that the age of the animal is
responsible for such variation and berseem, when
compared to concentrate, is less efficacious the
younger the animal is.
TABLE XI
Treatment
Full concentrate
.
.
.
.
50 per cent berseem and 50 per cent concent-
rate
75 per cent berseem and 25 per cent concent-
rate
Average age in
months
1939
24
24
24
1940
19
19
19
Liveweight increase
per day (lb.)
1939
1.42
1.06
1.00
1940
1.41
0.98
0.74
Cost per 100 lb. gain
(Rs.)
1939
15.54
14.00
11.27
1940
16.03
16.59
17.14
Table X brings out another point of interest.
Rearing of Murrah breed seems to be more econo-
mical than Hissar with concentrates and 50 per
cent replacement of concentrates by berseem ; but
when concentrates are replaced to the extent of 75
per cent by green berseem, rearing of Murrah
becomes more costly. This is due to the lower
value of berseem for growth of Murrah breed as
mentioned previously.
PART II. EFFECT OF REPLACEMENT OF CONCEN-
TRATES BY GREEN BERSEEM ON MILK PRODUC-
TION
In part I the effect of replacing concentrate by
berseem on growth has been discussed. In this
part results obtained during long period feeding
tests to find out the value of berseem as compared
to an ideal mixture of concentrates on milk yield
have been recorded. The treatments tried were
the same as in the case of growth.