202
Green Berseem as Substitute for Economic Feeding of Dairy Cattle
TABLE VII
Digestibility coefficients of the total ration
—
Hissar
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Murrah
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Average
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Hissar
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Murrah
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Average
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Hissar
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Murrah
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Average
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Organic
matter
65.64
63.97
64.80
66.29
64.16
65.22
64.36
65.76
65.06
Crude
protein
71.34
69.01
70.17
69.47
68.93
69.20
67.76
66.43
67.10
Ether
extract
Fibre
Group I
87.24
81.62
84.43
55.55
53.54
54.55
Group II
71.36
69.83
70.59
59.56
61.36
60.46
Group III
56.51
63.78
60.14
58.15
59.48
58.81
N. F. E.
66.84
65.51
66.17
67.83
65.93
66.88
66.37
66.81
66.59
Total
Carbohy-
drates
64.19
61.63
62.91
64.94
62.61
63.77
63.47
64.28
63.88
Table VII shows that there is practically no
difference in the average digestibility of organic
matter and total carbohydrates due to the three
treatments. Though there is a tendency of dec-
reased digestibility of protein with increased ber-
seem protein in the ration, the difference in digesti-
bility due to the three rations is slight and not
statistically significant. There is also no signifi-
cant difference in the digestibility of protein due
to breeds. However, there is a slight tendency of
lower digestion by Murrah breed.
The digestibility of fat, however, shows quite
significant difference from group to group, dec-
reasing with the decreased quantity of concent-
rate in the ration. The ether extract content of
the concentrate is quite high in comparison with
berseem, being 5.41 and 1.07 per cent respec-
tively during the first and 5.55 and 2.17 per cent
during the second digestion test. Though, to
balance the protein of the replaced concentrate,
about double the amount of berseem on dry basis
was given during the digestion period, the actual
amount of fat intake was less with berseem. Warth
[1930] observed that there is a relationship between
the amount of ether extract present in any sample
of hay and its digestibility. Data tabulated in
Table VIII indicate that the above relationship
holds good when the amount of fat present in a
mixture of feeds is also taken into account. The
digestibility of ether extract appears to be propor-
tional to the amount present in the ration. The
ratio between digestibility coefficient and intake is
nearly the same in each test but slight difference is
observed between the two tests. This may be due
to the quality of fat and requires further study.
TABLE VIII
Digestibility of ether extract as influenced by the
amount present in the ration
Full concentrate
50 per cent concentrate replaced
by berseem
75 per cent concentrate replaced
by berseem
Full concentrate
50 per cent concentrate replaced
by berseem
75 per cent concentrate replaced
by berseem
Ether
extract
intake
per day
(lb.)
Digestibi-
lity
Experiment I (1939)
148.4
109.1
92.8
85.1
69.6
49.9
Experiment II (1940)
178.6
149.4
136.3
83.7
68.9
64.2
Digestibi-
lity
Intake
0.57
0.64
0.54
0.47
0.46
0.47
Biological value of berseem protein as compared to
that of concentrate mixture
The lower intake and digestibility of ether
extract have influenced the total intake of energy
in berseem groups. The lower S. E. intake should
give lower liveweight increase, but, with the same
level of protein intake, it is expected that the rate