Effect of chicory root powder as prebiotic source to growth and nutrient digestibility of murrah buffalo calves
Anjali Khare, Veena Mani, Sachin Kumar and Gaurav Thorat
Twenty eight Murrah buffalo calves (7-10 d old and 31±2kg) were randomly selected and divided into four groups. All the four groups were fed as per ICAR (2013) feeding schedule except that these were additionally supplemented with 0, 8, 16 and 24 g/d chicory root powder (in the four respective groups i. e. T0, T1, T2, T3) for 90 days. Results showed that there is the final body weight, dry matter digestibility significantly higher in treatment groups as compare to control. There is no significant difference observe in the per cent digestibility of OM, CP, EE, NDF and ADF. Thus, it may be concluded that the supplementation of chicory root powder (8, 16 and 24g) may be useful for enhancing health status and performance of calves.