Effects of sugar beet pulp based total mixed ration on growth performance and blood profile status in male Nili Ravi buffalo calves

Authors: SAEED AHMED, FAISAL SHAHZAD, HIFZ-UL- RAHMAN, MUHAMMAD RAJAB

Abstract: Sugar beet pulp is comprised of highly digestible fibre that improves the growth rate in calves. The research was conducted to explore the effects of varying levels of sugar beet pulp (SBP) based total mixed ration (TMR) on growth performance and blood metabolites in buffalo male calves. Three TMRs were formulated based on quantity of SBP added i.e. 0% (TMR1), 15% (TMR2), 30% (TMR3) and assigned to 3 different groups (n = 6) of calves for a period of 60 days under a completely randomized statistical design. Calves were fed iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric ration as 3% of BW/day on dry matter (DM) basis. Data regarding dry matter intake (DMI), body weight (BW) gain, nutrients digestibility, body condition scoring (BCS), feed efficiency (FE) and selected blood metabolites were collected. It was found that DMI, BW, BCS, blood glucose, blood urea nitrogen and digestibility of DM, protein (CP) and crude fibre (CF) were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in calves fed with TMR3 compared to other groups. It was concluded that 30% SBP supplementation can enhance growth rate and nutrient digestibility in Nili Ravi buffalo male calves.

Keywords: Buffalo calves, sugar beet pulp, growth performance, digestibility

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