• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.301-305
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• 1995

The study was conducted at village level in Pabna milkshed areas of Bangladesh to asses the existing feed and fodder sources of cattle. The results showed that the overall number of cattle per farm family was 7.17 and chicken represents highest number (15.57) per farm family in this area. The results also indicated that during monsoon season the bathan is planted with Vigna mungo and Lathyrus sativus and average grazing hours per day varied from 1.1 in October to 5.6 in February. In Summer, they were offered naturally grown Cynodon dactylon with supplementary feeding of rice straw. The study further showed that the highest (65.7%) feed scarcity was found during mid April to mid May followed by mid June. The cultivation of Vigna mungo was highest (76.71%) compared to Lathyrus sativus by the farmers in the bathan areas. The major constraint to cattle production is the scarcity of quality feed during mid October to mid November.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.107-111
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• 1995

An experiment was conducted at Pabna milkshed area under Bathan condition during November, 1992 to February 1993 with 16 milking cows fed legume forage with straw supplementation (treated group) and 8 milking cows fed legume forage only (control group). From the study, the results revealed that supplementation of straw with leguminous diet increases the total dry matter intake (DMI) of 11.83 kg/d/cow for the treated group and 11.53 kg/d/cow for the control group. The average daily legume forage intake was $37.39{\pm}8.67kg/d/cow$ and $49.62{\pm}10.57kg/d/cow$ for the treated and control group respectively and the difference was significant (p < 0.05). The results also exhibited that due to the supplementation of straw, the legume forage intake reduced by 12 kg/d/cow. The forage dry matter intake (DMI) kg/d/cow for the treated and control groups were $6.18{\pm}1.44kg$ and $8.38{\pm}1.95kg$ respectively. The milk production was $8.64{\pm}1.15litre/day$ for the treated group which was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than the control group ($7.74{\pm}1.24litre/day$). The average initial body weight of the supplemented and control groups were $338.06{\pm}39.32kg$ and $329.87{\pm}48.03kg$ respectively. Whereas, the final body weight of supplemented group was $344.33{\pm}35.90kg$ and control group was $330.35{\pm}37.28kg$. It may be concluded that straw supplementation with legumes diet could save legume forage for further use as well as increase milk production.