A study was conducted to evaluate the forage based total mixed
ration (TMR) in crossbred lactating cows on milk production and nutrient
digestibility. TMR was prepared by mixing wheat straw, chapped green
forages (sorghum and rice bean in experiment I and oat and berseem in
experiment II) and concentrate feed having 17 percent dietary CP. Two
feeding experiments for the period of 60 days duration each during rainy
(experiment I) and winter seasons (experiment II) were conducted in first
lactating crossbred cows. In both the experiment six first lactating cows
were taken and divided into 2 groups. Group 1 (T1) was fed TMR and in
Group 2 (T2) ingredients were fed separately. The total daily dry matter
intake (DMI) in cows fed TMR increased significantly (p˂0.01) by 15.92
percent in experiment I, when multi cut sorghum and rice bean used as
green fodder. However, the differences were negligible in experiment II,
when oat and berseem used as green fodder. The dry matter (DM) and
crude protein (CP) digestibility as well as digestible energy (DE) value of
ration were increased significantly (p˂0.01) in cows fed on TMR based on
berseem and oat as green fodder in experiment II. However, differences
were non-significant in experiment I, when multi cut sorghum and rice bean
used as green fodder in TMR. The overall increase in milk production was
recorded by 16.96 and 19.49 percent in cows fed TMR during experiment I
and II, respectively. Similarly, an increase in milk production in cows fed
different feeds separately was also recorded 10.74 and 6.41 percent,
respectively during experiment I and II. Thus, it is concluded that feeding
of TMR is beneficial for proportionate intake of all feed ingredients, overall
feed intake and better digestibility of nutrients resulting into higher milk
production.