International Journal of Pure & Applied Bioscience (IJPAB)
Year : 2018, Volume : 6, Issue : 2
First page : (762) Last page : (766)
Article doi: : http://dx.doi.org/10.18782/2320-7051.5905

Feeding Practices in Crossbred Cattle and Its Relationship with Days Open – An Exploratory Study in Rural Bangalore

Chandrasekar, G. K., K. Satyanarayan, V. Jagadeeswary and J. Shilpa Shree*

Dept. of Veterinary & Animal Husbandry Extension Education, Veterinary College, Bengaluru
*Corresponding Author E-mail: shilpashreej23@gmail.com

 ABSTRACT

India is predominantly an agrarian society where animal husbandry forms the backbone of agricultural economy. Dairy farming provides sustainable income and reduces unemployment of a large number of the rural poor. The study on feeding practices of crossbred cattle and its relationship with days open was purposively conducted in Bengaluru rural district of Karnataka. Four taluks viz; Devanahalli, Doddaballapur, Hoskote and Nelamangala were randomly selected and a total of 120 respondents were selected for the study. An exploratory research design and multistage random sampling technique was applied for the study and data were collected using a structured interview schedule. The study revealed that majority (98.00%) of the respondents allowed the animals for grazing for 7 hours to 8 hours a day, 98 per cent provided 5- 10 kg of green fodder to the dairy animal after grazing, 97 per cent did not report any incidence of feed contamination, 86 per cent offered 3 to 5 kg of dry fodder and allowed animals to have access to drinking water three times a day (71.00%). Only 7 per cent adopting the practice of feeding optimum concentrate supplement feed and 3 per cent of farmers supplemented mineral mixture for improving reproductive performance. Only 3 per cent incidence of feed contamination can be identified as critical practices which could result in lower conception. Fifty seven per cent of the respondents had medium score in adopting overall scientific feeding practices. But still, there was a considerable gap existing between recommended scientific feeding practices and the existing feeding practices. So, there is a need to sensitize the dairy farmers about the modern technologies and scientific interventions in feeding strategies, in order to enhance milk yield and reproductive performance of dairy animals.

Key words: Crossbred Cattle, Feeding, Management, Days open.

Full Text : PDF; Journal doi : http://dx.doi.org/10.18782

Cite this article: Chandrasekar, G.K., Satyanarayan, K., Jagadeeswary, V. and Shilpa Shree J., Feeding Practices in Crossbred Cattle and Its Relationship with Days Open – An Exploratory Study in Rural Bangalore, Int. J. Pure App. Biosci.6(2): 762-766 (2018). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.18782/2320-7051.5905