Effects of Feeding Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) on Feed Intake and Milk Production Performance of Crossbred Cows.

Present experiment was conducted to study the performance of feeding Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) on milk production on 18 HF × Kankrej (75:25) advance pregnant crossbred heifers, which were distributed into three treatment groups (T1, T2 and T3) comprising of 6 animals each. The total duration of experiment was 300 days. Animals were offered three different types of total mixed rations containing 20, 10 and 0% Soy DOC, and 0, 10 and 20% rice DDGS (RDDGS) in T1, T2 and T3 groups, respectively. The overall mean values of DMI (kg/animal/day, and kg/100 kg body weight) in crossbred cows were 11.81±0.12 and 2.66±0.05, respectively. Average DMIs in T1, T2 and T3 groups of crossbred cows were 11.99±0.23, 11.81±0.22 & 11.62±0.19 kg/animal/day (p>0.05), and 2.82±0.10, 2.60±0.09 & 2.55±0.08 kg/100 kg body weight (p<0.05), respectively. The DMI (kg/100 kg body weight) was significantly (p<0.05) lower in T2 and T3 groups as compared to T1 group. The overall average milk yield and FCM yield at 4% fat irrespective of treatments and periods was found to be 20.92±0.24 and 21.06±0.59 kg/animal/day, respectively. Average milk yield and FCM yield at 4% fat was non-significantly higher in T2 (21.23±0.38 & 21.26±0.42) as compared to T3 (20.84±0.44 & 21.11±0.48) and T1 (20.71±0.43 & 20.78±0.46) groups. Feeding rice DDGS up to 20% in total mixed ration had no adverse effect on feed intake and milk yield of crossbred cows, indicating it can effectively replace soybean DOC in dairy rations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]