Study on energy metabolism of dairy buffalo heifers in Guangxi, China

摘要

Twelve dairy buffalo heifers aged 12-15 months with a body weight of 220 kg, were used in a randomized complete block design to study energy metabolism. The whole experiment consisted of 2 feeding trials with 20 d in-between interval, each including a digestion-metabolism trial. Animals were assigned to three levels of dietary net energy. Digestibility and metabolizability of energy were 67.1-71.4% and 55.1-59.2%. Methane loss was 9.9-10.0% of gross energy intake, heat production and heat increment were 0.534 and 0.203 MJ/kgW(0.75)/d, respectively. Net energy for growth was between 23.2-29.1% of gross energy.