Effects of different levels of sunflower residue silage replacement with alfalfa hay on Azari male buffalo calves fattening performance

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of replacing alfalfa hay with different levels of sunflower residual silage (SRS) on fattening performance of Azari male buffalo calves. Thirty calves with 138.33 Kg of BW fed experimental diets in a completely randomized design with 5 groups and 6 replicates. The five groups (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) included 0 (control), 25, 50, 75 and 100 percent replacement of alfalfa hay with SRS, respectively in basal diet. The results showed that dry matter intake (DMI) was significantly different between the groups (p<0.05). The highest and the lowest DMI were shown at the groups 1 and 5, respectively, however there was no significant difference between the groups 2, 3, and 4 with control. Daily weight gain (DWG) was significantly different between the groups (p<0.05). Group 5 had significantly lower DWG than groups 1, 2 and 3, furthermore there were no significant difference between groups 1, 2, 3 and 4. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly different among the groups (p<0.05). There was no significant difference among the groups 1, 2, 3 and 4. But these groups had significantly better FCR than the group 5. The best FCR was obtained for group3. It may conclude that alfalfa hay can be substituted with SRS at 50 % level with no negative effects on Azari male buffalo calves fattening performance.