DefinePK

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the effects of different weaning diets on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in male calves of Red Sindhi cattle. Thirty newly born calves were randomly divided into five experimental groups i.e. A, B, C, D and E of six calves in each. Each group was housed separately in the pens having common feeding and watering systems. Calves were fed adequate colostrum immediately after birth for three days. From day 4th, group A was fed whole milk at the rate of 1/10th of body weight (BW) per calf for first 4 weeks, 1/15th of BW for 5-8 weeks and 1/20th of BW for 9-13 weeks of age. The remaining four groups were given milk at the rate of 1/10th of BW per calf for first 4 weeks, 1/15th of BW for 5th week and 1/20th of BW for 6th week of age. From fourth week, these groups were randomly introduced one of the four experimental diets having two crude protein (CP) i.e.16 and 18% and two metabolizable energy (ME) 2.8 and 3.0Mcal/kg levels on ad-libitum basis. At the end of 6th week, milk supply to these five groups was stopped and calves were shifted to weaning diets that were fed for further 2 months. Feed intakes, body weights and feed efficiency (FE) were determined weekly. Feed efficiency of group A reared on milk was significantly (P<0.05) better (2.55) as compared to other two groups (2.87 to 3.30) however the cost with milk was higher. Weight gain and FE of calves fed on weaning diet contained 16% protein and 2.8 Mcal/kg were significantly (P<0.05) poorer compared to other groups. However, there was no significant difference in dry matter intake (DMI) among the groups. Calves in group A showed better (P<0.05) DM and CP digestibility compared to other groups. These results indicate that a weaning diet having combination of 16% protein and 3.0Mcal/kg energy (Group C) is adequate for successful weaning in Red Sindhi calves because it showed similar performance when compared with the weaning diets having 18% CP and 2.8 or 3.0Mcal/kg energy.