EFFECT OF DIETARY CALCIUM PROPIONATE SUPPLEMENTATION PRE- AND POST-PARTUM ON MILK YIELD PERSISTENCY OF IRAQI BUFFALOES AND SOME PRODUCTIVE TRAITS OF THEIR CALVES

This study was conducted to explore the effect of dietary calcium propionate (CP) supplementation on milk yield persistency (MYP) of Iraqi buffaloes and some productive traits of their calves (birth and weaning body weight, weight gain, and body measurements at birth and weaning). The experiment was executed at the Ruminant Research Station, Abu-Ghraib belonging to the Directorate of Animal Resources, Ministry of Agriculture from 10th May 2022 to 4th January 2023. Fifteen Iraqi dairy buffaloes; 6-7 years old were used and divided equally into three groups. The first group was regarded as the control group (T1) without any supplementation, whereas, 100 and 150 g of CP were added to the concentrate diet of the second (T2) and third (T3) groups. respectively for three experimental periods (7 hr. pre-partum and 24 hr. and 7 days’ post-partum). The T2 group exhibited the higher (P≤0.05) MYP (1.153 ± 0.12 kg/kg) than T1 (0.831 ± 0.08 kg/kg) and T3 (0.819 ± 0.07 kg/kg) groups. On the other hand, higher (P≤0.01) calves’ shoulder length was observed in T1 group (91.60 ± 1.88 cm) compared with T2 (81.60 ± 0.92 cm) and T3 (77.60 ± 2.85 cm) groups. In conclusion, adding of CP (100 g) to the concentrate diet of Iraqi buffaloes pre- and post-partum enhanced the MYP of Iraqi dairy buffaloes.