Nutrient Requirements of Buffaloes

Contents: Preface. Abbreviations. 1. Introduction. 2. Comparative digestion and nutrition of riverine buffaloes and cattle. 3. Existing feeding standards for buffaloes and the basis for calculating the standards. 4. Requirements and supply of energy. 5. Requirements and supply of protein. 6. Voluntary dry matter intake in various category of buffaloes. 7. Water intake in buffaloes. 8. Requirements and tolerance of minerals. 9. Requirements and tolerance of vitamins. 10. Special aspects of feeding dairy buffaloes. 11. Nutritional status of Indian buffaloes at farmers’ door. 12. Appendix. References.

"Buffaloes are being developed as a triple purpose farm animal for milk, draught and meat production in many developing countries and some developed countries. Buffalo milk and meat are becoming increasingly popular throughout the world because of their high nutritive value and low cholesterol content. Buffaloes contributes to 60% of milk production in India. Feeding is the most important factor in the productive and reproductive performance and the health of buffaloes. A suitable feeding package is required for the optimum exploitation of the inherent production potential of buffaloes. Scientific feed formulation, employing diversified tropical feed resources, exactly matching to the need of the animal and feeding according to requirement will surely reduce the wastage of feed or nutrients, stress to the animals and reduce environmental pollution. In the book an attempt has been made to provide an accurate, comprehensive and useful review of the scientific literature on buffalo nutrition and to present updated recommendations for the supply of nutrients and the nutritional requirements of buffaloes. This book will be useful for students, research workers, extension workers, buffalo husbandry managers and progressive farmers."