Dairy feed efficiency and urbanization – A system approach in the rural-urban interface of Bengaluru, India

Abstract Efficient resource use is essential for sustainable dairy production. Urbanization, however, challenges resource availability and thus the feeding strategy of dairy producers living in urbanizing environments. As an emerging megacity, Bengaluru, in Southern India, combines rapid urbanization with a high demand for dairy products. To assess the impacts of urbanization on feeding strategy and resource use efficiency of dairy producers, measured as feed efficiency (milk production divided by feed offered), 28 dairy farms, from four dairy production systems (DPS) coexisting within Bengaluru's rural-urban interface, were monitored at 6-week intervals during one year. Out of the four DPS, one was extensive and found along the whole rural-urban interface (ExtDPS), two were rural and semi-intensive (Semi-ADPS and Semi-BDPS) but differed in the genotypes of dairy cattle kept, and one was rural and intensive (IntDPS). Feed intake and quality, milk offtake and quality, were monitored at each visit. Nutritional requirements of productive dairy cattle were estimated on the basis of production data. Daily intake of dry matter was high in IntDPS, intermediate in Semi-ADPS and Semi-BDPS, and low in ExtDPS, in which dairy producers were mostly landless and did not cultivate forages but relied on market wastes and public grounds for grazing and forage collection. Feed intake in Semi-ADPS, Semi-BDPS and IntDPS resulted in mostly adequate supply or oversupply of metabolizable energy and crude protein, whereas the feeding strategy of ExtDPS lead to mostly adequately supplied to undersupplied cattle. Daily offtake of energy-corrected milk (ECM) was the lowest in one semi-intensive DPS (Semi-ADPS = 8.2 kg cow−1) but, despite a similar feeding strategy, highest in the other semi-intensive DPS (Semi-BDPS = 10.2 kg cow−1) and in IntDPS (10.9 kg cow−1; P