Improvement of Murrah Buff alo Milk Production Fed Palm Oil Solid Waste Containing Ration

Abstract

A field trial was conducted to study the eff ect of dietary inclusion of palm oil solid waste on milk production of murrah buff alo raised under palm oil plantation. Two farms from diff erent districts were involved in this study. Forty cows with 7–9 month pregnancy were selected from each farm and they were divided into control and treatment groups. Cows in control group were off ered a mixed supplement of 1 kg copra meal + 2 kg fresh grated cassava root + mineral mix and treatments group were off ered the control diet + 1 kg palm oil solid waste. The dietary supplement was off ered to the cows for 2 months before and 2 months period after calving. The cows were grazed under palm oil plantation. The addition of palm oil solid waste in the diet improved (P<0.05) milk yield (8.5 l/d vs 10.5 l /d), calves weight at birth (19.6 kg vs 22.1 kg) and live weight gain of the calves (0.66 kg/d vs 0.99 kg/d). Additional dietary inclusion of palm oil solid waste improved milk yield of murrah buff alo, and further improvement of milk yield was expected to achieve by higher inclusion of palm oil solid waste in the diet.