Effect of dietary supplementation of astaxanthin, prill fat and combination on stress indicators, milk yield and composition during heat stress in buffaloes

ABSTRACT

Twenty four lactating buffaloes were selected and divided equally into four groups viz. Group I (control), Group II (astaxanthin @ 0.25 mg/kg body wt/day), Group III (prill fat @ 100g/animal/day) and Group IV (astaxanthin + prill fat) for monitoring the effect of supplementation on stress markers, milk yield and composition. Rectal temperature was lower in treatment groups compared to control. Plasma cortisol levels were lower (P < 0.05) in treatment Groups (II and IV) than control. Milk yield was higher (P < 0.05) in treatment groups, whereas the magnitude of increase was highest in Group IV (15.6%) followed by Group III (13.8%) and Group I (5.39%) over control. Fat percent was higher (P < 0.05) in Group III compared to control. Present study indicated that the energy levels were maintained by prill fat supplementation during heat stress. The combination of astaxanthin and prill fat showed beneficial effect over prill fat supplementation i.e. better health status in addition to higher milk yield, but higher cost of astaxanthin reduced the cost benefit ratio in combination group (1:2.58) than prill fat supplementation (1:6.75) group. As the farmers are interested in immediate benefit, supplementation of prill fat can be recommended for enhancing/sustaining milk production in buffaloes under tropical climatic conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Astaxanthin
• amelioration
• heat stress
• milk yield
• prill fat

Acknowledgments

The Authors express sincere thanks to Director of ICAR-NDRI Karnal and Director of ICAR-CSSRI, Karnal for providing necessary facilities for carrying out this research. The authors acknowledge the ‘Farmer FIRST’ project for financial help to carry out the research work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Dairy Research Institute [1]; Farmers First Project [1]; Central Soil Salinity Research Institute [1].