Effect of feeding maize silage on production performance in dairy cows

Abstract

Dairy farming is one of the important sectors of agriculture which is growing at faster rate and is providing food security, employment, income, and enhances the living condition of farmers and other stake holders. Silage is an alternative source of green fodder for round the year supply of roughage to dairy animals to sustain better production and reproductive performance over conventional feeding practices. The feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding maize silage on the production and reproduction parameters, in two phases. In first phase 59 lactating animals were fed 20 kg of maize silage daily and compared before and after feeding maize silage. In second phase 36 lactating cows were taken in three treatment groups T1, T2 and T3, having 6 high yielders and 6 low yielders in each group. A result shows that feeding maize silage to lactating animals improved milk yield, especially in high yielder cows. DMI (Dry matter intake) and reproductive performance were also improved in silage feeding group.