Effect of Feeding Practices on Body Weight, Yield and Composition of Milk of Dairy Cattle

A total of 100 newly collected dairy cattle (after parturition) of which 20 local and 80 crossbred varieties of mini dairy farms from urban and semi-urban areas of Rajshahi district were selected for the study. They were divided into four groups depending on different feeding practices viz., stall feeding of concentrate diet (T-1), 6-8 hours grazing without any concentrate feed (T-2), stall feeding with 3-4 hours grazing (T-3) and stall feeding with 3-4 hours tethering (T-4). The study investigated the effect of feeding practices on body weight, milk yield and composition of milk. Average body weight gain in kg/day/cattle of different dairy breeds were significantly higher (P<0.01) inT-1, T-3 and T-4 than T-2 feeding practices. T-1 (6.43 litres), T-3 (6.67 litres) and T-4 (6.45 litres) produced more amount of milk, and T-2 (3.26 litres) produced lower milk yield. Statistical analysis for the trait indicates that T-3 was significantly different from other three feeding practices. Except for lactose and ash contents, rest of the milk constituents’ viz., fat, protein, solids not fat (SNF) and total solids (TS) were found to be higher in T-3 and lowest in T-2 feeding practices. Comparison between the local and crossbred cattle revealed that, local breed had the lower body weight gain and milk yield but showed better performance in all the constituents of milk viz., fat, protein, milk sugar, ash, SNF and TS than the crossbred cattle and the differences of the milk yield and milk constituents among local and crossbred cattle were significant except for lactose and ash contents