Effect of exogenous fibrolytic enzymes supplementation on growth and nutrient utilization in Murrah buffalo calves

Abstract

The present experiment was conducted to study the effect of supplementing exogenous fibrolytic enzymes (cellulase 4050 μM glucose/g/h and xylanase 8600 μM xylose/g/min mixed equally w/w) at 2 levels @ 1.5 and 3.0 g mixture/kg DM of TMR on the growth performance and nutrient utilization in buffalo calves. Female Murrah buffalo calves (18) were randomly divided into 3 groups (8–10 month of age; 149.44, 151.08 and 151.62 kg BW; 6 each) and fed concentrate, wheat straw and green maize fodder in 40: 45:15 proportions (DM basis) in control group and the same ration as fed to control group plus 1.5 g enzyme mixture/kg DM of TMR (group 1) and 3.0 g enzyme mixture/kg DM (group 2) for 120 days. Average body weight gain in group 1 was 96.10 kg, which was higher than group 2 (83.20 kg) and control group (83.08 kg). Average daily gain was also higher in group 1 (800.79 g/d) over the group 2 (693.33 g/d) and control group (692.35 g/d). DMI was higher in group 1 (4.37 kg/d) as compared to control (4.24 kg/d) and group 2 (4.24 kg/d). The digestibility coefficient of NDF, cellulose and hemicellulose were higher in group 1 over the group 2 and control group. It could be concluded that supplementation of exogenous fibrolytic enzymes @ 1.5 g mixture/kg DM improved the growth rate in Murrah buffalo calves.