Effect of protein in complete diets on rumen metabolism in buffaloes

Abstract

Two diets (D₁ and D₂) were fed ad lib. to 3 permanently fistulated buffalo calves in a latin square design. D1 consisted of paddy straw 37, green 3, molasses 10, deoiled rice bran 41, deoiled mustard-cake (DMC) 6, mineral mixture 2 and common salt 1 kg/100kg and D2 has deoiled rice bran 39.8, deoiled undecorticated cottonseed-cake (DUCSC) 7, and urea was 0.2 kg/100 kg .and the remaining ingredients were similar to D₁. The concentration of various ruminal nitrogen fractions were comparable for both the diets except non- protein nitrogen which was higher on D₁ than that on D₂. pH of rumen liquor was higher in D₂ diet coivpared to D₁. TVFA and all nitrogen fractions peaked at 4hr post-feeding. DM disappearance was higher for D₂ compared to D₁ indicating the increased solubility and degradability of diet D₂