Effects of feeding whole crop maize, maize stover and mott grass silageson milk yield and its composition in lactating Sahiwal cows

Twelve cows nearly of the same age, weight and lactation stage wasrandomly divided into 3 groups, viz., A, B and C of 4 caws each, usingcompletely randomized design (CRD) Three rations viz., I, II and III were allottedto groups A, B and C, respectively. All the 3 rations were based on 60 percenttest materials (WCM, MS and MG silages) added with 40 percent concentrates.Each ration was offered ad lib twice daily. The experiment lasted lot 20 days,allowing 10 days of adaptation period. The average DM content of WCM MS andMG silage's were 29.68, 28.46 and 28.37 percent; ash content 6:18, 8.61 and 8.33percent; crude protein (CP) content 8.89, 8.613 and percent; crude protein(EE) content 2.04,1.57 and 1.66 percent; crude fiber (CF) content 28.04, 32.10and 32.32 percent; and nitrogen-free-extract (NFE) content 54.85, 49.09 and48.56, respectively. All the silages were found nearly similar in chemicalcomposition. The daily dry matter intake (DMI) of cows on rations I (WCM), II(MS) and III (MG) was 12.8, 12.5 and 16.0 kg, respectively. The intake washigh (P less than 0.001) with MG, but similar with WCM and MS silages. Theaverage daily milk and fat-corrected milk (FCM) yields by cows in groups A, Band C were found 4.2, 4.3 and 5.4 liters and 4.54, 4.60 and 6.01 liters per day,respectively. The cows fed on MG silage produced higher (P less than 0.001)milk and FCM (P less than 0.001) than those on WCM or MS silages. Whereas,no differences were found in the milk yield of cows fed WCM and MS silages.The average butterfat, crude protein, casein, total solids and solid not fatcontents of milk in groups A, B and C were 4.6, 4.7 and 4.7; 3.01, 3.00 and3.02; 2.48, 2.47 and 2.49; 12.25 12.23 and 12.42; 7.67, 7.58 and 71:67 percent perday, respectively. No differences were found on milk components due tofeeding these silages. The findings of this study concluded that WCM silage,could be replaced with MG silage for better milk production in Sahiwal Cows.The response of experimental cows to MS silage was the same as to WCMsilage. Further study is needed to investigate the fiber quality of MG as wellas WCM. Although the MG silage was higher in crude fiber but theexperimental cows exhibited higher DMI, yields of milk and 4% FCM comparingwith WCM or MS silages. The responses of cows in terms of DMI and milkproduction were similar for WCM or MS silages. The milk composition wassimilar for all the three silages.