In Pakistan the per capita availability of the proteinous feed especially of animal origin for human consumption is much less than the required levels. So we the animal production professionals have huge task before us in solving this problem of meat shortage. In our country the buffalo is the main dairy animal. The farmers usually prefer to keep the female calves as they can give them good return in the form of milk. The male calves are often considered as a burden and they are weaned at a very early age. As a result most of them die in their early life. Studies conducted in Pakistan and in some other countries have shown that these calves could be fattened by using cheaper sources of agriculture by-products. One way of solving the problem of meat shortage is the fattening of these calves using well- balanced least cost rations.

In Pakistan the farmers normally use wheat bran to feed their animals. As a result of ever increasing demand of wheat bran its price is quite high and also there are complains about adulteration in it. So there is a need to find some alternate products which could replace wheat bran without effecting the performance of the animals. Maize bran is a by-product of starch industry. It is available in Pakistan by the brand name of Buffalo bran. Similarly the rice bran is a by-product of rice industry and is available after the extraction of remaining oil from the rice polishing. Both maize bran and rice bran are cheaper as compared to wheat bran and easily available. The present study was conducted to ascertain the nutritional value of wheat bran, maize bran and rice bran in the fattening ration of buffalo male calves.

A fattening trial was conducted on three groups of buffalo calves with 10 calves each. Three rations namely A, B and C were prepared in which all the ingredients were same except maize bran, wheat bran and rice bran, which were used at the level of 30%. The duration of the experiment was 90 days. The animals were fed in groups and during the experiment the weight gain, feed consumption, feed efficiency and digestibility of different nutrients in the ration were recorded. Economics of the fattening rations was also determined.

It was found that the weight gain on the rations A, B and C was 555 ± 29.21 kg, 755 ± 34.48 kg, 728 ± 31.85 kg, feed consumption was 4339 ± 75.17 kg, 5386 ± 184.82 kg, 5648.5 ± 221.34 kg and mean values for feed ciliciency were 7.82 ± 2.59, 7.13 ± 1.17 7.76 ± 1.67, respectively. The difference (P<0.05) among the groups regarding weight gain, feed consumption and feed efficiency was not significant. For the three rations A, B and C the digestibility of dry matter was 66.88 ± 6.52, 67.85 ± 5.31 and 59.53 ± 12.64 %, digestibility of crude protein was 72.07 ± 5.34,76 ± 4.52 and 69.12 ± 7.54%, digestibility of crude fiber was 55.89 ± 7.35, 49.25 ± 8.36 and 42.16 ± 14.13% and digestibility of ether extract was 85.94 ± 3.47, 87.94 ± 8.36 and 82.24 ± 4.84 %, respectively. Digestion trial also revealed that there was a non-significant difference (P
The results of the study revealed that although wheat bran had shown good results, yet it could be replaced by rice bran. The maize bran had not expressed good results, however more research is required to determine it's suitable level in the diet of the buffalo calves. The results of the groups fed rice bran were almost similar to that of wheat bran. Moreover economics of the ration revealed that the cost of production was much less in the case of rice bran. So the rice bran can be used in the rations of buffalo calves without any effect on their performance.