Abstract
The digestion of ruminal fibrous substrate is slow or incomplete and can hinder animal performance. Hence, the current study investigated the effect of oat-silage-to-concentrate ratios supplemented with exogenous fibrolytic enzymes (EFE) on production performance and nutrient digestibility in 32 Nilli Ravi early lactating buffaloes. Four diets were formulated and grossly divided across two major experimnatl groups of two proportions of silage to concentrate ratios (AS-60, silage to concentrate ratio of 60:40; and AS-70, silage to concentrate ratio of 70:30) with or without EFE supplementation. Crude protein, and neutral detergent fiber intake as well as digestible nutrient intake were significantly (P < 0.05) higher upon EFE supplementation than in groups without EFE. The addition of EFE improved (P < 0.05) all nutrient digestibility parameters. Unaltered blood glucose and urea nitrogen were found across all animal groups at 0, 3, 6, 9 h post-feeding. Animals fed on diet supplemented with EFE with 60:40 silage to concentrate ratio (P < 0.05) recorded the highest nitrogen balance values. Better milk production (P 0.001) was observed in animals on enzyme- treated diets than in those without enzyme supplementation. Milk fat, total solids, and milk energy content were increased (P < 0.05) in animals on AS-60, AS-70, and NAS-70 diets. The present study demonstrated that diets containing high oat silage (60 or 70%) supplemented with EFE led to better milk production and composition in early lactating buffaloes.