Abstract #W432

# W432
Nutritional evaluation of corn wet feed in cannulated Nili-Ravi buffalo bulls.
M. Nisa*1, M. Osman3, S. Najeeb4, M. Sarwar2, 1Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Home Economics, Govt. College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan, 2Institute of Animal Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, 3Livestock and Dairy Development Board, Lahore, Pakistan, 4Star Farm Pvt Ltd, Sargodha, Pakistan.

The study was aimed to examine the influence of replacing corn wet feed (CWF) with corn grains on feed intake, nutrient digestibility, nitrogen balance and ruminal characteristics in ruminal cannulated buffalo bulls. The animals were fed 1% of their body weight. All diets were isocaloric (2.30 Mcal/kg) and isonitrogenous (12.55%CP). The control diet CWF0 did not contain CWF, Whereas CWF10, CWF20 and CWF30 diets had 10, 20, and 30% CWF, respectively. Animals were housed on concrete floor in separate pens and water was made available round the clock. The experiment lasted for 80 d. The 4 × 4 Latin square design was used in this experiment and means were compared by Duncan’s new multiple range test. Dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) intakes were not differ (P > 0.05) in animals fed diets containing with and without CWF. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) intake was higher (P < 0.05) in buffalo bulls fed diets contained different levels of CWF. Dry matter, CP and NDF digestibilities were highest (P < 0.05) in animals fed CWF10 diet than those fed CWF0, CWF20 and CWF30 diets while DM, CP and NDF digestibilities remained same (P > 0.05) among animals groups fed CWF0, CWF20 and CWF30 diets. All animal were in positive nitrogen balance. However, there was high nitrogen retention observed in animal fed CWF10 and CWF20 diets. Ruminal pH in buffalo bulls at 0, 3, 6 and 9 h remained same across all diets. Ruminal NH3-N at 0 h was also same while significant (P < 0.05) difference was observed in buffalo bulls at 3, 6 and 9 h across all diets. In this study 10% replacement of corn grain with CWF showed better nutrient digestibility, nitrogen balance and ruminal characteristics of Nili-Ravi buffalo bulls.

Key Words: corn wet feed, corn replacement, buffalo bulls