TANUVAS GRAND for enhancing milk yield of dairy cattle in Karur district of Tamil Nadu

Introduction

Dairying is one of the major occupations in rural areas of Tamil Nadu, India, belonging to the unorganized sector with low productive potential with available feed resources, namely grains of pearl millet, sorghum, maize, broken rice and agricultural by products. Since rumen microorganisms play an important role in facilitating the digestion of the feed and fodder and further get digested in the lower gut to provide quality microbial protein to the animal, it is imperative to support the nutritive requirement of these beneficial microorganisms to facilitate digestion of low quality feed and fodder as well as to reap the high quality microbial protein that is provided by them (Arul nathan et al., 2023). Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) developed a supplement to selectively support the growth of beneficial microorganisms. The supplement contains required quantity of copper sulphate, cobalt sulphate and urea as a source of copper, cobalt, sulphur and nitrogen. The acronym for this supplement is GRAND in which G stands for Gruel, R stands for rooted, A stands for Additive, N stands for Nourishment and D stands for Drops. A field demonstration was designed to study the effect of TANUVAS GRAND supplementation on milk production and cost of economics in dairy cattle in Karur district of Tamil Nadu under DAPSC Project from ICAR.

Materials and Methods

The present study was carried out to analyse the impact of TANUVAS GRAND supplementation in milk yield of Dairy cattle. The total no of 30 milking -cows were selected for this demonstration in Kulithalai, Thanthoni and Thogamalai blocks of Karur District in Tamil Nadu during the year of 2023-24. All cows were in different stages of lactation with different types of feeding pattern. The trail animals included low yielding as well as high yielding animals with order of calving ranging from 1st to 10th calving. The selected progressive farmers were trained on TANUVAS GRAND supplementation practices aspects before starting of demonstrations. The demonstrated dairy cows were regularly monitored and periodically observed. The milk yield of these cows was recorded for 30 days of pre supplementation of TANUVAS GRAND and post supplementation of 20 ml of TANUVAS GRAND per day continuously for 30 days. The present demonstration assessed the performance individual household level farmers who adopted supplementary feeding of TANUVAS-GRAND in dairy cattle. Cost of expenditure, net income and benefit cost ratio were worked out. To study the impact of demonstrations, collected milk yield data were analysed. www.extensionjournal.com The results of demonstration conducted in dairy cows are described in table 1, 2 and 3. The results showed that GRAND supplement administered animal produced an average milk yield of 8.72 litre/day/cow with benefit cost ratio of 2.96 whereas without administration of GRAND supplement the cow yielded 7.36 litre/day/cow with benefit cost ratio of 2.68. Farmer realized the additional cost benefit from addition of GRAND Supplement in regular feeding pattern in Dairy cows. More than milk yield there was an increase of intestinal micro-organism to eliminate Sub Acute Ruminal Acidosis (SARA). Similar findings were reported by Balakrishnan and Murugeshwari (2013) [1] , where there was an increase of 0.48 litres/day/cow on an average. Murugeshwari et al., stated that there was an average milk yield of 646.33 ml/day/cow leading to additional income of Rs.30/animal/day. Balakrishnan (2014) www.extensionjournal.com [3] stated that cattle has produced additional milk yield with an average of 500 ml to 700 ml/day/cow. Vinothraj et al., (2019) [4] reported that milk produced from GRAND supplement administered animal was around 9.20 litres/day/cow.

Results and Discussion

Conclusion

TANUVAS GRAND supplementation in dairy animal resulted in increased milk yield around 750 ml/animal/day. In economic aspects, dairy farmers will get Rs.1000-1500 additional profit from dairy cow by investing 100-200 rupees. It is also found that conducting large scale demonstration in time for adoption of this product plays a crucial role in enhancing the productivity of dairy cattle.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgmentsOur kvk thanks to ATARI Zone X, Hyderabad for providing financial support and thanking Animal Husbandry department for helping farmer mobilization in villages.

References

1. Balakrishnan V, Murugeswari R. The effect of TANUVAS grand supplement in augmenting milk production and preventing metabolic disorder in cattle. 2013.
2. Murugeswari R, Balakrishnan V, Viswanathan K, Babu M, Bandeswaran C. Reducing feed cost by supplementing TANUVAS grand in dairy ration: a field report. 2013.
3. Balakrishnan V, Murugeswari R. Fodder cultivation technologies. 2014:91-97.
4. Vinothraj S, Alagesan P, Saravanan Kumar S, Siva M. Impact of TANUVAS grand supplement in dairy cattle. 2019.
5. Arulnathan N, Chellapandian M, Senthilkumar S, Ramesh J, Murugeswari R, Thirumeignanam PAD. Effect of critical nutrient supplementation (TANUVAS grand) on production performance in dairy cattle in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, India. 2023.