EFFECT OF SUPPLEMENTATION OF TINOSPORA CORDIFOLIA ON LACTATION PARAMETERS IN EARLY LACTATING MURRAH BUFFALOES

The present study was conducted to study production parameters of lactating Murrah buffaloes supplemented with Tinospora cordifolia. Twelve lactating Murrah buffaloes in early stage of lactation were selected from the herd of National Dairy Research Institute Karnal, Haryana. The buffaloes were divided into two groups of six animals each. One group was taken as control and the other group supplemented with Tinospora cardifolia 120 g/animal/day from day 3 to day 75 of lactation was taken as treatment group. All the buffaloes were hand milked throughout the experimental period. Milk samples from mixed whole milking were collected early in the morning in sterilized milk sampling bottles from all the animals upto 75(th) day of lactation. The milk samples were analyzed for somatic cell count, composition and milk total immunoglobulin's. The milk yield was recorded daily. Significant increase (P<0.05) in milk yield of treatment group as compared to control group was obtained. The milk somatic cell count was significantly lower in treatment group as compared to control group. The milk composition (fat %, protein %, lactose % and SNF %) was estimated using LactoScan milk analyzer. No significant change was observed in milk fat %, lactose % and SNF % however significant change was observed in milk protein % of treatment group compared to control group. No significant difference in total milk Ig was observed between control and treatment group. The DMI showed an increasing trend with significant difference from day 11 up to day 75 of lactation between control and treatment.