Effects of different levels of pumpkin (Cucurbita Pepo) residue silage replacement with forage part of ration on male buffalo calves fattening performance

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of replacing forage part of ration with different levels of Pumpkin (Cucurbita Pepo) residual silage (PRS) on fattening performance of male buffalo calves. Twenty Four calves with 203 + 27.9 Kg of BW fed experimental diets in a completely randomized design with 4 groups and 6 replicates. The four groups (1, 2, 3 and 4) included 0 (control), 20, 40 and 60 percent replacement of forage part of ration with PRS, respectively in basal diet. The results showed that dry matter intake (DMI) was not significantly different between the groups. The highest and the lowest DMI were shown at the groups 1 and 4, respectively. Daily weight gain (DWG) was not significantly different between the groups. The highest and the lowest DWG were shown at the groups 3 and 2, respectively. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was not significantly different between the groups. But the best FCR was obtained at group 1. It may conclude that forage part of ration can be substituted with PRS at 60 % level with no negative effects on male buffalo calves fattening performance.