Influence of customized supplement on voluntary feed intake and nutrient metabolism in crossbred calves

The present study was carried out to ascertain the effect of dietary inclusion of a customised supplement to farmers' based diet on voluntary feed intake and nutrient metabolism in crossbred calves. In order to carry out the experiment, fifteen crossbred calves (18 months old; 166.53±4.93 kg mean BW) were randomly allocated to 3 groups (5 calves in each group) as CON, Treat and SBR, in a CRD for 30 days. The calves in CON (control) group were fed on cereal straw based diet with concentrate mixture as per the farmers' practices, whereas, the calves in Treat were fed according to CON with additional customized supplement @ 0.25% of BW. The calves in SBR group were fed standard diet as per Kearl (1982). The intake (gd⁻¹) of DM and OM was significantly (P<0.01) higher in SBR than Treat and CON groups, while DM and OM intake as % of BW in Treat group has an intermediate position between SBR and CON groups. The concentrate intake (gd⁻¹) was significantly (P<0.001) higher in SBR followed by Treat and CON group, respectively. However, intake of wheat straw and green maize was found to be identical (P>0.05) among all the groups. The digestibility coefficient of DM, OM, CP, NDF and ADF was significantly (P<0.05) higher in Treat and SBR groups than CON. The N-retention as per cent of intake and absorbed-N was significantly (P<0.001) higher in Treat and SBR groups than CON. The Ca and P retention (gd⁻¹) was significantly (P<0.001) higher in SBR group followed by Treat and CON groups. The intake (gd⁻¹) and density (%) of DCP and TDN were significantly (P<0.001) higher in SBR group followed by Treat and CON groups. Thus, it can be concluded that supplementation of the customised supplement (@ 0.25% of BW) to CON diet significantly improved the voluntary feed intake and nutrient metabolism in crossbred calves.