Vol. 10, Special Issue 7 (2021)

Author(s):
Kamalahasan K and Sabin George

Abstract:
This study aimed to investigate the effect of feeding milk replacer on the nutrient digestibility of crossbred calves. Eighteen healthy crossbred calves both male and female around one week of age were selected and randomly divided into three groups of six each (T1, T2, and T3), as uniformly as possible with regard to age, sex, and body weight. The calves of T1 received whole milk as per routine farm practice, T2 group was offered whole milk plus commercial milk replacer as per manufacturers recommendation and T3 group was offered a formulated milk replacer @ 12.5 per cent of body weight. All the calves received ad libitum green fodder. The apparent nutrient digestibility of crossbred calves has no significant difference between groups. This result shows that feeding of milk replacer does not affect the digestibility of crossbred calves.