Sustainable Agriculture Systems and Technologies

Table 3.4 Performance of crossbred lactating cows fed on homemade balanced concentrates mixtures.

Garg et al. (2009) reported that ration balancing improved milk production by 0.58 kg/animal/day with increment of 0.5% milk fat. After ration balancing, the improvement in milk production efficiency resulted in more milk from the same amount of feed. Milk production efficiency (kg fat corrected milk yield/kg DMI) of cows was 0.58 and 0.78 kg/kg, respectively for cows, before and after ration balancing. For buffaloes these values were 0.53 and 0.66 kg/kg. Balanced feeding can reduce the methane emissions from livestock farming, which is utilized for production purposes rather than maintenance, also known as the maintenance dilution effect (Garg et al. 2013). Vagamashi et al. (2016) observed improvement of daily milk yield by 0.95 l/day/animal and milk fat by 0.24% (3.98–4.22%) on feeding a balanced ration. This may be attributed to more efficient utilization of dietary energy and protein in lactating cow as reported by Garg and Bhanderi (2011). Findings are also similar to that of Haldar and Rai (2003), Bhanderi et al. (2016), and Mahanta (2017).

Total DMI per 100 kg body weight varied from 3.31 ± 0.09 kg to 3.95 ± 0.21 kg/d which did not differ significantly among the groups. DCP and TDN intake (kg/100 kg body weight) varied from 0.250 ± 0.05 to 0.341 ± 0.11 and 1.882 ± 0.11 to 2.373 ± 0.14 kg, respectively. The DCP and TDN intake did not differ significantly among the groups. Mahanta (2017) also reported DMI of 2.35–2.53 kg/100 kg body weight in crossbred lactating cows fed low cost balanced feed which was much lower than the present values. This may be attributed to the fibrous nature and bulkiness of the low cost feed which was responsible for low DMI. The DCP and TDN intake (g/kg W 0.75) of lactating crossbred cows were reported by Mahanta (2017) at 7.42–8.13 and 66.58–70.57, respectively. The higher DCP and TDN intake in the present study may be due to higher feed dry matter intake by crossbred cows than the values reported by Mahanta (2017). The cost of different concentrate feed varied from Rs. 6910 to 7280 per ton which was much lower than the market rate (Rs. 16 000/t) ( Table 3.4). Mahanta (2017) also prepared different low cost feed costing Rs. 8.58 and 8.28 per kg for lactating cows. In the present study, the cost of total feed offered to dairy animals in a day varied from Rs. 62.47 to 82.36. The cost of milk production was also estimated to be Rs. 8.61 to 10.37 per liter ( Figure 3.2). Vagamashi et al. (2016) reported an additional benefit of Rs. 38 per animal per day in cows fed on balanced ration, when milk production was increased by 0.95 l/day/animal and fat percentage by 0.24%. However, Mahanta (2017) reported the feed cost for milk production at Rs. 10.98–12.21 per kg of milk in crossbred cows fed low cost balanced feed, which are almost similar to the present study.

TMR and homemade balanced feed are two important technologies for dairy sector in reducing the production cost as well as maintaining good health of animals. In most parts of the eastern region, undernutrition is a major constraint in animal production due to high cost of concentrate, lack of green fodder and quality dry fodder. Therefore, major share of ration is constituted by only crop residues and by‐products. As a result, full potential of production and reproduction of dairy animals is not exploited. Moreover, high cost of concentrate feed results in increase in input cost and thereby, nonprofitability of dairy farming. Feeding of homemade balanced concentrate together with TMR can solve the problem, particularly in smallholder milk production system. In recent years mobile‐based ration balancing programme is being implemented in many parts of India by NDDB. However, still it is not gaining up to the mark, particularly among resource poor farmers. Readymade availability of different types of homemade concentrate feed formulas may be acceptable by the smallholders. For wider dissemination, the formulas need to be handed over to the state government, KVKs and NGOs. Use of mass media and distribution of leaflets are also needed for creating general awareness among smallholders.

Figure 3.2 Daily feed cost and feed cost for milk production in cows fed different concentrate mixtures.

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