Nutrient utilization and milk yield response of early lactating Nili-Ravi buffaloes fed on urea–molasses treated wheat straw fermented with cattle manure

Abstract This study was aimed to examine the influence of urea–molasses treated wheat straw (WS) fermented with cattle manure (CM) with 4% urea and 4% molasses incubated for 40 days on its chemical composition and varying substitution levels of fermented wheat straw (FWS) with concentrate on nutrients intake and their digestibilities, milk yield and its composition in Nili-Ravi buffaloes. Twenty early lactating buffaloes were randomly divided into four groups in a randomized complete block design. Four iso-nitrogen and iso-caloric diets were formulated. There was no replacement of concentrate with FWS in control (FWS 0) diet while FWS 15, FWS 25 and FWS 35 dies contained 15%, 25% and 35% replacement of concentrate with FWS, respectively. Nutrients intake remained unaltered ( P  > 0.05) by lactating buffaloes fed diets containing varying levels of FWS. However, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber digestibilities increased (P  P  > 0.05) in buffaloes fed different levels of FWS. Similar trend was noticed for milk yield (4% fat corrected milk). The percent milk fat, CP, total solids and solids not fat and their yields were non-significant ( P  > 0.05) in buffaloes fed varying amounts of FWS. The blood and milk urea nitrogen (BUN and MUN) didn't differ among Nili-Ravi buffaloes fed diets containing varying levels of FWS. This study implied that urea–molasses treated WS fermented with CM replaced 30% dietary concentrate without affecting the milk yield and its quality by early lactating buffaloes.