Effect of increasing pre-pubertal concentrate levels on reproductive and lactation performance of Nili-Ravi Buffalo heif
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Effect of increasing pre-pubertal concentrate levels on reproductive and lactation performance of Nili-Ravi Buffalo heifers Muhammad Saadullah 1 & Zeeshan Muhammad Iqbal 2 & Muhammad Naveed-ul-Haque 3 & Hifzulrahman 1 & Jalees Ahmed Bhatti 4 & Muhammad Abdullah 1 Received: 23 October 2019 / Accepted: 13 May 2020 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract The objective of this study was to determine the effect of increasing total nutrient supply by increasing level of concentrate supplementation in forage-based diet of growing Nili-Ravi buffalo replacement heifers on pre-pubertal growth rate and its impact on age at puberty and post-pubertal productive and reproductive performance. Twenty-eight Nili-Ravi buffalo heifers of 7 ± 1 month age were divided into 3 groups. The treatments were 3 levels of concentrate (crude protein (CP) = 17.9%, metabolisable energy (ME) = 2.66 Mcal/kg), i.e. 0.5, 1, and 1.5% of the body weight referred as low, medium, and high treatments, respectively. Irrespective of pre-pubertal treatment, all the heifers received similar feed after puberty up to completion of their first lactation. The results of the study showed a similar response across the treatments in age, weight, and condition at puberty, weight at calving, lactation length, and yield. The medium and high treatments resulted in poor reproductive performance because of higher services per conception and less number of heifers confirmed conceived compared with low treatment. The low treatment resulted in less mortality compared with medium and high treatments. The feeding cost per animal at puberty, conception, and calving was lowest for treatment low as compared with medium and high. In conclusion, the results of the study showed that NiliRavi buffalo heifers achieved puberty at 23 months with feeding of concentrate (CP = 17.9%, ME = 2.66 Mcal/kg) during prepubertal stage at the rate of 0.5% of the body weight with better reproductive performance. Keywords Concentrate . Conception . Heifer . Nili-Ravi . Puberty
Introduction India, Pakistan, and China are the major (96%) buffalo milk– producing countries (FAOSTAT 2017), and optimum use of buffalo could help in improving the situation of food security in these countries. One of the major limitations in buffalo production is delayed age of first calving, mainly because of low growth rate due to improper nutritional management (Rafiq et al. 2008). The puberty is the age when sexual organs * Muhammad Abdullah [email protected] 1
Department of Livestock Production, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
2
Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
3
Department of Animal Nutrition, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
4
College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Jhang, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
of heifer are functionally developed and become able to release the gametes (occurrence of first ovulation; Gupta et al. 2016). The age at puberty and f
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