D. Nagalakshmi

Effect of zinc supplementation on haematology and serum biochemical constituents in Murrah buffalo calves

Eighteen buffalo calves (125±2.5 kg) were randomly allotted to 3 groups in a completely randomized design. The dietary treatments were viz., Basal diet (BD; 29.72 ppm Zn from feed ingredients), BD supplemented with 80 and 140 ppm Zn as ZnSO4.7H2O (22% Zn). The nutritional requirements were met by feeding sorghum stover based complete diets comprising of mainly sorghum stover, maize grain, soya bean meal and red gram chunni for a period of 120 days. Results showed that Zn supplementation at either 80 or 140 ppm had no influence on haematological constituents (haemoglobin, total erythrocyte and leucocytes count, packed cell volume, MCV, lymphocytes, monocytes and granulocytes) and biochemical constituents (total protein, albumin, cholesterol, glucose and albumin : globulin ratio) analyzed at 90 d of trial. Irrespective of dose, alkaline phosphatase activity and globulin concentration in serum increased (P

Effect of feeding expander extruder processed sunflower heads based complete diets on performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass characteristics of lambs

Expander extruder pelleted complete diet (EEP) formulated with 50% deseeded dried sunflower heads (SFH) as roughage source along with 10% sorghum straw was compared with a conventional diet (concentrate mixture and chopped maize hay) by feeding to 24 Nellore ram lambs reared under intensive system for 180 days. Fortnightly body weights, feed intake, feed efficiency and nutrient digestibilities in lambs fed EEP diet was comparable to conventional diet except for higher (P less than 0.01) crude protein, crude fibre, acid detergent fibre and cellulose digestibility. Dressing percentage, yield of wholesale cuts, water, protein and ash content in Longissimus dorsi muscle were not affected, while fat content in muscle lowered by 17.7% in lambs fed EEP diet. Feed cost/kg gain or per kg edible meat lowered by Rs. 1.30 and 4.12, respectively with EEP diet compared to conventional diet. The results indicated that SFH could be incorporated at 50% level in complete diets of growing lambs and its feeding improved the daily weight gains by 12.9% and reduced the cost of feed per kg edible meat by 7.59% than conventional diet.