A survey of feeding practices among dairy animals of Indore District of Madhya Pradesh (MP) was conducted in all four tehsil of Indore District. Along with collection of common concentrate feeds being used in the area was done to assess their quality. It was indicated that majority of farmers were feeding wheat straw as roughage and cotton seed cake (CSC), wheat bran (WB) and compounded feeds as concentrate without supply of greens. Collection of 30 samples was done randomly for each feed from farmers, market dealers and feed manufactures and analyzed for proximate principals, acid insoluble ash (AIA), calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P). The samples of CSC, WB and compounded feeds having nutritive value below their required specifications (BIS) especially in case of unbranded samples, while the branded once were almost within their expectations except the amount of total ash and crude fiber (CF), which remained higher then recommended. The unbranded samples of these feeds were usually lower in protein and high in CF and especially the compounded feeds were very high in total ash and AIA remains indicative of adulterations. Hence, BIS have to tack strict initiatives to control the quality of concentrate feeds and among them complete feed requires special attention to be paid.

Highlights

• Survey of feeding practices among dairy animals of Indore District of Madhya Pradesh.
• Collection of common concentrate feeds being used in the area to assess their quality.