Effect of different planes of nutrition on urea molasses mineral block intake, nutrient utilization, rumen fermentation pattern and blood profile in Murrah buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis)

In order to investigate the effect of plane of nutrition on intake and nutr ient utilization from urea molasses mineral block (UMMB), rumen fermentatio n pattern and blood biochemical constituents, 20 intact and 12 rumen fistul ated male Murrah buffaloes aged about 3 years and weighing 320.3+/-13.11 kg were randomly distributed into four groups of eight animals in each, thus each group having five intact and three rumen fistulated buffaloes. All the animals were fed individually for 40 days. Animals in group I (control) we re fed ad libitum wheat straw alone along with mineral mixture and common s alt, group II, III and IV were given ad libitum wheat straw alongwith incre asing levels of energy from UMMB alone (group II), UMMB+700 g concentrate m ixture (group III) and UMMB+1400 g concentrate mixture (group IV). Crushed barley fortified with mineral mixture and common salt was the concentrate m ixture used. At the end of feeding trial, a metabolism trial of 7 days dura tion was conducted on intact animals to determine the digestibility of nutr ients. Rumen fermentation study was carried out on 12 rumen fistulated anim als following the metabolism trial, blood was collected from intact animals to estimate the nitrogenous constituents in blood serum of animals fed on different planes of nutrition. The intake of total dry matter (DM) and tota l digestible nutrients (TDN) was non-significantly and intake of digestible crude protein (DCP) was significantly (p<0.01) higher in treatment groups over control group. Apparent digestibility of DM, organic matter (OM), and crude protein (CP) increased significantly (p<0.01) in group TI to IV over group I, whereas, the digestibility of neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), cellulose and hemicellulose tended to be higher in U MMB fed groups. Nitrogen intake and its balance increased significantly (p< 0.01) with the increase in plane of nutrition. Significantly (p<0.01) highe r concentration of total volatile fatty acids (TVFA), total nitrogen (TN) a nd its fractions were observed due to increased plane of nutrition. The rum en pH reduced significantly (p<0.01) due to concentrate feeding in group II I and IV, but rumen fluid volume and digesta flow rate were unaffected. The concentration of blood serum urea increased significantly (p<0.01) in expe rimental groups as compared to control but ammonia-N and total protein conc entrations were unaffected due to feeding of animals on different plane of nutrition. Results indicated that additional energy supplied through concen trate in group III and IV, respectively, resulted in higher intake of prote in and energy than the maintenance requirement (Kearl, L.C., 1982. Nutrient Requirements of Ruminants in Developing Countries. International Feed Stuf fs Instituter Utah State University, Logan, UT, 82 pp), whereas wheat straw supplemented with UMMB was sufficient to meet the maintenance requirements of adult buffaloes. Higher plane of nutrition did not have any positive ef fect on intake of wheat straw and UMMB. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.