A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON FEEDING OF TOTAL MIXED RATION VS CONVENTIONAL FEEDING ON WEIGHT GAIN IN WEANED FRIESIAN HEIFERS UNDER TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT

The study was carried out by using eighteen post weaned Friesian heifers (111.05 ± 9.2 day old and weighing 96.6 ± 8.4 kg) to determine the effect of Total Mixed Ration (TMR) feeding system based on Wet brewer’s grain, Kikuyu grass, commercial pellet feed and commercial Mineral Mixture on daily weight gain in Friesian heifers. Nutritional composition of each feed ingredient was proximately analyzed and the ration was formulated according to the recommended nutritional requirement of a weaned dairy heifer (NRC 2001). One group was fed with TMR feeding system and the other group was fed with conventional feeding system as a control. Weight gain was measured weekly of each animal under each treatment. Throughout the experimental period (8 weeks), the average daily weight gain (ADG) was 0.55 kg/d in the treatment group and it was 0.33 kg/d in the control group. ADG was significantly different in between these two groups at p<0.009