Khattab et al., 2000. Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci., 13 (5): 619-624

Low-quality roughages [banana wastes (B), wheat straw (WS) and dried broiler litter (BL)] were ensiled using either sweet whey (W) or diluted molasses (M) as rehydration media to study their effects on milk yield, milk composition and some parameters of blood plasma. The feeding trial involved 25 lactating buffaloes in five groups (five animals each). Buffaloes as control animals received diets of concentrate feed mixture, rice straw and wastelages (70:30:00). In the other 4 treatments, the wastelages replaced 50% of rice straw in the control diets. The wastelages were BL:B:M (3:2:10) (T1), BL:WS:M (3:2:10) (T2), BL:B:W (3:2:10) (T3) and BL:WS:W (3:2:10) (T4) on a fresh matter basis, during the 1st 17 weeks of lactation period. Results indicated that feeding lactating buffaloes on wastelages resulted in slightly higher (p>0.05) milk yield, 4% fat-corrected-milk yield and feed efficiency, and slightly lowered (p>0.05) contents of milk total solids, fat and protein. Wastelages, especially BL-B-M, increased (p<0.05) milk non-protein-nitrogen and ash contents and plasma urea, GOT and GPT. The results demonstrate that banana plant wastes with some additives in silage form may be good untraditional roughage for lactating buffaloes without any adverse effect on milk production.