Rice gluten meal, an agro-industrial by-product, supports performance attributes in lactating Murrah buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis)
2018
Mahesh, M.S. | Thakur, S.S.
Alternative feedstuffs having potential to deliver nutrients without inflicting zoo-technical attributes would be of great interest for today's livestock industry that aims at cleaner, greener and environmentally-steward production. In this perspective, we investigated the effect of partial substitution of customarily used protein feed peanut cake (PNC) by either rice gluten meal (RGM) or corn gluten meal (CGM) in compound feed mixture (CFM) on milk performance of Murrah buffaloes. Eighteen buffaloes in early lactation were divided into three similar groups and fed a basal diet comprising of chopped green corn, wheat straw and CFM. Control group received CFM containing mainly PNC as protein source, while it was replaced by 50% of RGM and CGM isonitrogenously in T1 and T2, respectively, for 120 days including a seven-day metabolism trial.Results revealed a lack of effect of treatments on intake and digestibility of nutrients as well as plane of nutrition. Furthermore, yields of milk, milk components and milk energy output were higher (P < 0.01) in T2 with similar milk composition and milk energy content across the groups. Nevertheless, feed efficiency was improved (P < 0.05) in group T2 with higher (P < 0.01) nitrogen (N) balance and apparently metabolized N. However, no effect was elicited on calculated methane emission and energy balance. Urea-N concentration in milk and plasma decreased (P < 0.01) in T2 with no discernible influence on other plasma metabolites. It was concluded that RGM supports the same production at 50% replacement of PNC, and at similar level, CGM resulted in even better response for lactating buffalo diets supporting resource-efficient and economic buffalo production.
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