Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Mineral Mixture on Milk Yield & Reproduction in Crossbred Dairy Cows
For the last two decades, India has been the world’s largest milk producer, with a 22.67 percent share of global dairy production (Singh et al., 2020) , achieving an annual output of 187.7 million tonnes (2018-19) as compared to 176.3 million tonnes (2017-18) recording an annual growth of 6.5 percent (BAHS, 2019) . Around 70 million Indian households are projected to be active in dairy production vis-à-vis 150 million households worldwide (FAO, 2020) . Per capital availability has also increased from 233 gm per day during 2004-05 to 394 gm per day in 2018-19. However, the milk production has increased from 25 thousand tonnes in 2017-18 to 25.78 thousand tonnes in 2018-19 registering a growth of 3.05%. However, milk production is steadily growing in Mizoram, the per capita availability of milk per day in 2018-2019 worked out at 66 gm is far below the Indian Council of Medical Research recommendation (ICMR) of 300gm of milk per day per individual (Government of Mizoram, Economic Survey, 2019-20). Livestock sector plays a key role in improving the socioeconomic conditions of developing countries (Herrero et al., 2013). According to the 20th livestock census, total milch cattle population in the India is 74.18 million and has increased by 9.8 % as compared to the previous census (20th livestock census). Crossbred are animals that have shown best reproduction and productive performance compared to indigenous animal, which is mainly due to recombination and heterosis effect (Sutarno and Setyawan, 2015). The productivity of dairy cows is dependent on balanced feeding by providing adequate quantities of all necessary nutrients to meet their requirements for a particular physiological function but in India, animal feeding is traditional in nature and generally depends upon locally available feed resources (Garg et al., 2013). Crop residues that constitute a major portion of diet are poor in essential minerals (Garg et al., 2008). Supplementation of the mineral mixture is of vital importance for animals and it helps in improving the growth rates, feed utilization efficiency, milk production, reproductive efficiency, resistance against infectious diseases, and also minimizing the incidence of certain metabolic diseases, and reduces inter-calving interval (Mohanta and Garg, 2014). The most deficient minerals supplementation through area specific mineral mixture (ASMM) by assessing the mineral content in feeds and fodders of animals in different agroclimatic zones appear to be the best approach (Selvaraju et al., 2009). This approach has been found to improve the reproductive efficiency and health in crossbred cattle under field conditions and this technology has been successfully replicated (Crowe et al., 2018). Supplementation ASMM and vitamins are not practised in most parts of the country (Garg et al., 2007). Garg and Bhandari (2005) reported low animal productivity and impaired reproductive behaviour due to mineral deficiency and corrected these ailments through supplementation of various deficient minerals. Supplementation of area-specific mineral mixture resulted in an early onset of first postpartum estrus, enhanced conception rate and increased the milk yield without any significant effects on milk constituents like milk fat, total solids, total ash, CP, SNF. The addition of specific deficient minerals in the form of ASMM is, therefore, recommended to the feed of the dairy cows preferably during last trimester of pregnancy to obtain better reproductive efficiency and higher milk production.
Compiled & Shared by- Team, LITD (Livestock Institute of Training & Development)
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