Effects of Varying Levels of Fungal (Arachniotus sp.) Treated Wheat Straw as an Ingredient of Total Mixed Ration on Growth Performance and Nutrient Digestibility in Nili Ravi Buffalo Calves.

The study was carried out to explore the effects of replacing wheat straw with fungal treated wheat straw as an ingredient of total mixed ration (TMR) on the growth performance and nutrient digestibility in Nili Ravi buffalo male calves. Fungal treated wheat straw was prepared using Arachniotus sp. Four TMRs were formulated where wheat straw was replaced with 0 (TMR1), 33 (TMR2), 67 (TMR3), and 100% (TMR4) fungal treated wheat straw in TMR. All TMRs were iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous. The experimental TMRs were randomly assigned to four groups of male calves (n = 6) according to completely randomized design and the experiment continued for four months. The calves fed TMR2 exhibited a significant improve in dry matter intake, average daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio and feed economics compared to other groups. The same group also showed higher digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, neutral-, and acid detergent fibers than those fed on other TMRs. It is concluded that TMR with 33% fungal-treated wheat straw replacement has a potential to give an enhanced growth performance and nutrient digestibility in male Nili Ravi buffalo calves.