Groundnut haulms - alternate roughage for lactating cows

Lactating Gir cows (15; 6.6 to 10.5 kg milk/d, 30 to 45 days in milk and in 2nd/3rd lactation, 301–382 kg BW) were divided in to 3 equal groups and fed wheat straw replaced (w/w) with groundnut haulms @ 20 (GH20), 30 (GH30) and 40% (GH40) respectively, in addition to five kg green sorghum, concentrate mixture and groundnut cake. Groundnut haulms contained no hydrocyanic acid, 16 mg% nitrate and 41 ppm oxalate, respectively. The material was highly palatable and the animals relished the dry fodder. The DM intake, digestibility of nutrients and nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium retention were also statistically comparable in all the treatment groups. Daily milk yield and its composition were not effected by experimental diets. It was be concluded that wheat straw can be replaced with groundnut haulms up to 40% without any adverse effect on the production performance of lactating Gir cows.