CURRENT FEEDING MANAGEMENT OF PERI-URBAN DAIRY BUFFALOES AND SCOPE FOR IMPROVEMENT

A study was conducted to assess the current feeding status of peri-urban dairy buffaloes around Peshawar city. A total of 32 buffalo farms at 8 different locations were randomly selected. Data on feed availability and feeding practices were collected during berseem and maize fodder seasons. Blood urea concentrations in the buffaloes were measured and related to the feeding management. Six different concentrate mixtures commonly prepared on the farms were identified. These were analysed and found imbalanced in energy/protein and mineral supply. This together with feeding of the concentrate at a flat rate without considering milk yield resulted in overfeeding of protein to low producers and at the same time caused inadequate nutrition of high producing buffaloes. Buffaloes producing 4 to 6 liters of milk/day received 200 to 1400 g crude protein above requirements, while those yielding 10-12 liters of milk suffered from deficiency of both protein and energy. Plasma urea levels varied due to farms (P<0.05) and fodder seasons (P<0.05) and varied from 36.15 to 39.09 mg/100 ml during berseem and from 21.74 to 28.01 mg/100 ml during maize fodder season. Elevated plasma urea levels were suggestive of causing fertility problems in the buffaloes and wastage of dietary protein. It was concluded that nutritional manipulation to mitigate nutrient losses and improve the efficiency of utilization of diet in peri-urban buffaloes would require technical interventions of the existing conventional feeding systems