Impact of feeding practices on nutritional quality of milk of bovine cross breeds in Bukooli central Bugiri district

Abstract

Dairy farming is a cornerstone of agricultural activities worldwide, contributing significantly to food security and economic development hence playing a pivotal role in rural livelihoods and food provision among households. On the other hand there have been concerns on the quality of milk in correlation with feeding practices This study therefore investigated the impact of different feeding practices on the nutritional quality of milk of dairy cross breeds in Bukooli Central, Bugiri District. The total of 52 dairy farmers were randomly sampled to find out their feeding methods with the aim of ascertaining how these feeding methods affect milk quality specifically protein and fat content. The feeding methods recorded include natural pasture grazing, zero grazing, and mixed grazing systems. 26 milk samples across three feeding methods were purposively collected and taken to life line laboratory for analysis. The results indicated that milk from natural pastures grazed dairy crosses had the mean protein content of 3.531%, zero grazed dairy animals had 6.714%, and 4.793% for mixed grazed dairy cattle, the mean fat content was 7.338% for naturally grazed, 10.750% for zero grazed and 8.662% for mixed grazed dairy cattle. A statistical analysis revealed significant differences in protein (P = 0.001) and fat (P = 0.003) content across the different feeding methods. The coefficient of variation (CV) for protein was 26.5% and for fat was 19.7%, indicating variability in milk composition due to the feeding practices. The standard error (SE) for protein and fat was 1.24 and 1.65 respectively, with the least significant difference (LSD) values of 1.383 for protein and 1.831 for fat. The findings suggest that zero grazing results had the highest protein and fat content, followed by mixed grazing and then natural grazing. This demonstrates that controlled feeding practices that incorporate supplements and concentrated feeds, can significantly enhance the nutritional value of bovine milk. These results have important implications for dairy farmers in Bukooli Central and similar agro-ecological regions, where feeding strategies can be optimized to improve milk quality.