THE PERFORMANCE AND ENERGY UTILIZATION IN ONGOLE CROSSBRED CATTLE RAISED UNDER TWO LEVEL SUPPLEMENTATIONS OF CONCENTRATE TO THE RICE STRAW

Abstract

Eight Ongole Crossbred young bulls (aged 1.5 years; weight 217.5 kg) were used to study the effect of level concentrate supplementations to the rice straw on the energy utilization. Animals were randomly di-vided into two groups, first group were fed on 50% concentrate supplementation (C50), and the second group were fed on 70% concentrate supplementation (C70). The concentrate feed composed of rice bran and wheat bran at a ratio of 50:50. The rice straw was given to animals ad libitum. The parameters observed were daily intake of dry matter (DMI), gross energy (GE), fecal energy (FE), urine energy (UE), methane gas energy (CH4E) and daily body weight (BW) gain by total collection method for 7 days. Energy loss as methane gas was calculated by using the Kurihara’s equation of methane gas production. The average daily BW gain was measured after the animal being raised for 12 weeks. The data were analyzed using the t-test. The results showed DMI and GEI of cattle fed C70 was higher (P<0.05) than that of cattle fed C50. The percentage to the GEI of energy excreted as feces, urine and methane were found lower (P<0.05) in C70 than that in C50. The metabolizable energy in C70 was higher (P<0.05) than that in C50, being 55.99 and 40.33 MJ/d or equal to 53.18 and 45.11%GEI, respectively. These results were correlated with the BW gain in C70 and C50, being 0.62 and 0.45 kg/d, respectively. The increasing of concentrate by 20% (from 50 to 70%) of the total DMI could significantly increase the available energy and body weight gain. Keywords: energy utilization, supplementation, productivity, Ongole Crossbred