Dry matter, digestible crude protein and total digestible nutrient requirement for cattle and buffaloes

DRY MATTER (DM), DIGESTIBLE CRUDE PROTEIN (DCP) AND TOTAL DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS (TDN) REQUIREMENTS FOR CATTLE AND BUFFALOES
  • In the computation of ration for the cattle and buffaloes, the prime consideration is to ascertain and to meet up the total requirement in terms of, Dry matter (DM), Digestible crude protein (DCP), Total digesible Energy (TDN), Minerals and Vitamins.
  • The requirement on the quantity of dry matter depends on the body weight of the animal and also with the nature of its production.
  • Cattle will generally eat daily 2.0 to 2.5 kg dry matter for every 100 kg of live weight.
  • Buffaloes and crossbred animals are slightly heavy eaters and their dry matter consumption varies from 2.5 to 3 kg daily per 100 kg body weight.
  • All its requirements whether organic nutrients like carbohydrate, protein and fat or minerals or vitamins should come from the total dry matter that has to be allotted.

Dry matter

The dry matter allowance should be divided as follows:

Total dry matter

Bajra Napier fodder  Fodder cowpea-Leguminous fodder  Conserved Sorghum fodder

Digestible Crude Protein (DCP) requirement

  • The DCP requirement for manitenance is  2.84 g /kg W0.75.
  • The DCP requirement per kg of 4% fat corrected milk is 132 g of digestible nitrogen for 100 g of milk nitrogen.
  • In high yielders about 8% of the total protein requirement should be in the form of 'bypass protein'.
  • During the last trimester of gestation an additional amount of  90 to 130 g of DCP have to be provided to cattle and buffaloes of 350 kg to 500 kg body weight.

Total digestible Nutrient (TDN) requirement

  • The energy requirements for maintenance are calculated using 122 kcal of ME /kg W0.75  (33.74 g TDN) for cattle and buffaloes.
  • The requirement for TDN per kg of 4% fat corrected milk is 1188 kcal of ME (328 g TDN).
  • During the last trimester of gestation an additional amount of  1.0 to 1.1 kg TDN have to be provided to cattle and buffaloes of 350 kg to 500 kg body weight.
Last modified: Saturday, 31 March 2012, 6:52 AM