The present study was conducted in Rajasthan. The investigation concerned with semi-arid zone of Rajasthan, which is the highest livestock and bovine population in zone, 6986.2 and 3287.9 thousand; respectively. Milk production and productivity depend on the quality and quantity of feed & fodder. Feed and fodder constitute about 60-70 per cent cost of milk production. It was estimated that major consumption of crop residue and green fodder varies in different seasons. This feed resource, which consists mainly of grasses, legumes and cereal crop residues vary widely and are spread across the major agro- ecological zones of the Rajasthan. Hence, an investigation entitled A Comprehensive Study on Fodder Production and Its Utilization Pattern in Semi-Arid Zone of Rajasthan was conducted on proportionate randomly selected 240 dairy farmers belonging to different land holding categories and growing at least two fodder crops in a cropping year were taken as respondents of Dausa and Tonk districts in Semi-arid zone of Rajasthan. It was observed that grazing + stall feeding was practiced by 49.86 per cent of the respondents. Whereas, majority of respondents used to provide feed and water three times in a day in study area and farmers 66.52 per cent providing green fodder to the animals after chaffing.
Key words: Feed, Fodder, Dairy Animals and Utilization Pattern
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