Nutritive Value and Silage Quality in Fodder Sorghum (\u3cem\u3eSorghum bicolor\u3c/em\u3e), Maize (\u3cem\u3eZea mays\u3c/em\u3e) and Hybrid Napier (\u3cem\u3ePennisetum americarnum\u3c/em\u3e × \u3cem\u3eP. purpureum\u3c/em\u3e) Grown in Sri Lanka

For continuous genetic improvement of cows, nutrition and management conditions should be improved to allow cow to produce its inherited potential production. However, many farmers not pay desired attention on forage quality and one of the main reasons for the low productivity of dairy cattle is under nutrition. Therefore, production of high quality fodder varieties is vital for strengthening the dairy sector in Sri Lanka. Hybrid Napier var. CO-3 is widely used for cattle feeding in Sri Lanka. It is important to find out other forage varieties with maximum nutritive values and minimum anti-nutritive factors which can be used as a cattle feed. Sorghum is a crop for semi-arid regions in tropical and sub-tropical zones which can be grown successfully throughout the country both under irrigated and rain-fed conditions. In addition, it has shown a huge potential to produce high green fodder yields. Maize is one of the most important plants grown for fodder production in the world. It possesses most of the characteristics of an ideal type of fodder and forage plant. Hence, this field research was conducted to investigate the possibilities in use of fodder Sorghum var. sugargraze and Maize var. pacific 984 as green fodder and/or silage in Sri Lank

Preparation of Cattle Feed Blocks Using Agricultural Wastes

Scarcity of high quality feeding materials is one of the major constraints in Sri Lankan dairy industry and the study was conducted to prepare a nutritious, conservable and cost effective cattlefeed block. Four nutritionally diverse feed blocks (B1, B2, B3 and B4) were prepared incorporating different agricultural wastes. Five treatment diets; T1 (only fresh CO3 grass), T2,T3, T4 and T5 (each with 5 kg fresh CO3 + B1, B2, B3 and B4 respectively) were tested in on-farm trial using fifteen Jursey x Sahiwal cross bred heifers. Daily feed intake and live weight gain ofeach animal were measured. Data were analyzed using one way Analysis of Variance in SAS. Among the feed blocks, B3 was prepared with 65% paddy straw, 10% rice bran, 10% coconutpoonac, 10% molasses, 2% urea, 2% salt, 0.5% DCP and 0.5% lime and contained 89.6% dry matter, 14.5% crude protein, 1.5% crude fat, 30.7% fiber, 0.9% Calcium and 0.7% Phosphorus.Average daily dry matter intake and live weight gain of heifers fed with T2, T3 and T5 diets were higher (p<0.05) compared to the heifers fed with T1 and T4. The highest (p<0.05) average dailyfeed intake and live weight gain were recorded in heifers fed with T3 diet. All feed blocks could be kept for 45 days under sealed polyethylene package without any quality deterioration. Thus, block3 could be recommended as the best feed block that to be fed with fresh forages having protein and energy balance at low cost.KEYWORDS: Agricultural wastes, dairy, feed bloc