Archives

10. Protein Enriched Biodegraded Cereal Crop Residues as Livestock Feed. 

To compensate for the shortage of conventional concentrate feed ingredients and green fodder required for livestock feeding, possibility of using new non-conventional feed resources is being explored extensively. At present, majority of livestock population is dependent upon the cereal crop residues i.e. wheat and rice straw. The crop residues, however, cannot meet the nutrient requirements of livestock because of their poor energy, protein and mineral values. The availability of energy and protein values can however be improved considerably through natural fermentation process.

This project was taken up to implement the process of natural fermentation at the village level by organizing field days/demonstrations in 4 districts of Punjab known for abundant availability of cereal crop residues viz. Gurdaspur (Border area), Hoshiarpur (Kandi area), Bathinda (Semi-arid area) and Ludhiana (Bet area). The demonstration trials on animals of dairy farmers have been laid in 6 villages each of Ludhiana and Gurdaspur districts. With the continuous feeding of fermented straw, an overall increase in milk production to the tune of 1-1.5 kg/animal/day was successfully demonstrated. Also the treated straw was highly acceptable to the animals and its daily intake was 2.0 to 2.5 times higher than that of untreated straw. The animals when adapted/acclimatized to fermented straw feeding, refused to accept untreated straw. It also had a laxative effect. The pamphlets in Punjabi covering methodology and applications of the technology have been published and widely circulated through Department of Animal Husbandry, Punjab. The Principal Investigator was Dr. M.P.S. Bakshi, Assistant Nutritioinist, Deptt. of Animal Nutrition & Forages, PAU, Ludhiana.

Contact Person: Dr. J.K Arora, jkarora@pscst.com