COMPARATIVE EFFICIENCY OF CALF STARTER AND CONVENTIONAL RATIONS IN BUFFALO SUCKLING CALVES

Twenty-four buffalo calves, having similar age and initial body weight, were divided into two groups with equal number of calves of both sexes in each group to study the effect of calf starter ration on feed intake and weight gain. Calf starter and conventional dairy rations with crude protein 18% and total digestible nutrients 75–80% along with green fodder were offered ad libitum to calves of respective groups for a period of 113 days. The average daily feed intakes were 0.95 and 0.57 kg, average daily weight gains were 0.47 and 0.34 kg and feed conversion ratio averaged 2.00 and 1.70 in calf starter and conventional groups respectively. On the overall performance, calf starter group was found better than the conventional ration