SHORT COMMUNICATION
Dry matter and crude protein digestibility of locally
prepared concentrates by calves at different ages
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1
Sokoine University of Agriculture,
P.O. Box 3004, Morogoro, Tanzania
2
Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Research Centre Foulum,
P. O. Box 50, DK-8830, Tjele, Denmark
Publication date: 2004-08-30
Corresponding author
H. L. N. Lyimo
Sokoine University of Agriculture,
P.O. Box 3004, Morogoro, Tanzania
J. Anim. Feed Sci. 2004;13(Suppl. 1):147-150
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Thirty crossbred calves were randomly allocated to six treatments in a 3 diet × 2 weaning age
factorial arrangement to study the effects of weaning age and type of locally prepared pre-weaning
concentrate on dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) digestibility at the age of 1, 2, 3 and 4 months.
Diets were concentrate A, whole milk and hay (T1), concentrate B, whole milk and hay (T2) and whole
milk and hay (T3), respectively. Weaning was either at 9 or 12 weeks age. The concentrates were isoenegetic and iso-proteinous (12.9 MJ ME/kg DM and 180 g CP/kg DM) but differed in the ingredients
used to prepare them and were fed liberally until the consumption reached 1 kg. Milk was offered at the
rate of 4l a day and reduced gradually to reach 2l at weaning. Hay and clean water were offered liberally
from two weeks of age. Weaning at 9 or 12 weeks had small but insignificant effects on all of the studied
parameters. Differences in dry matter digestibility (DMD) started at the second month of age, whereby
T3 had significantly (P<0.01) lower DMD (73%) compared to T1 (78%) and T2 (76%). Digestible
crude protein (DCP) was different only at the 2nd month whereby T3 had higher DCP (P<0.05) (85%)
compared to T1 and T2 (71 and 69%). There was no significant difference between the supplemented
groups in DMD or DCP. It was concluded that, concentrates prepared from local available feed resources
could be effectively used and digested by calves from the second month of age.