Vol. 10, Issue 5 (2021)

Author(s):
M Harani, MVAN Suryanarayana, B Devasena and Y Ravindra Reddy

Abstract:
Twenty-four crossbred calves were randomly divided into three groups in a Completely Randomized Design in which the animals in group 1 were fed with APBN-1 and concentrate feed @1% of body weight while the animals in groups T2 and T3 were fed on the same ration as in T1 but were also supplemented with RumEest-ESF @ 10 and 15g/animal/day, respectively. Supplementation of Probiotic and EFE to crossbred calves revealed that rumen pH values were highest at 0 h and declined to minimum by 6 h post feeding, while TVFA, NH3-N, and N fractions reached peak at 6 h post feeding and later followed a decreasing trend in all the treatments. Among all the VFA molar proportions (moles/100 moles), butyrate was found to be increased (P<0.05) at the expense of propionate and acetate. The values were 59.06, 57.96 and 56.60 of Acetic acid, 29.15, 29.03 and 29.36 of Propionic acid and 8.80, 10.35 and 11.28 of Butyric acid for T1, T2 and T3 groups, respectively. It was concluded that supplementation of EFE and live yeast culture @ 15 g/animal/day improved the rumen fermentation patterns, which is shown from the higher Butyric acid production, Total Volatile Fatty Acids, Total Nitrogen, TCA precipitable nitrogen, residual nitrogen, and food and protozoal nitrogen.