DRY MATTER AND WATER INTAKE IN LACTATING MURRAH BUFFALOES

Abstract

The study was conducted on 18 lactating Murrah buffaloes to know the effect of
different regime of watering on water intake and dry matter intake( DMI). The different regime
of watering were as group-I ad lib watering, group-II, watering before 1hr of milking, group-
III, watering after 1 hr of milking and group-IV, watering before and after 1hr of milking. The
overall DMI (kg/day/animal) for the experimental group was 12.22± 0.06 12.15±0.06,
11.73±0.06 and11.30±0.06 in group IV II, III & I respectively. The statistically the overall DMI
significantly (P<0.01) varies among the group. The water intake were 46.0±0.57, 52.0±0.65,
49.7±0.56 and 53.0±0.62 in the groups I, II, III and IV respectively. Overall water intake (lit/
day) varies significantly (P<0.01) among the groups. The concentration of sodium in the
group III has a significantly higher sodium concentration as compare to group I & IV but
group III did not differ from group II. The data of potassium concentration revealed that all
the treatment group did not differ significantly. The hematological parameters like RBC &
PCV also not significantly varies among the groups.
Key words: Lactating murrah buffaloes, water intake, dry matter intake