Nazam Khan

Influence of varying dietary Cation-Anion difference based diets on blood biochemical and immunological parameters in crossbred calves during summer

Eighteen female crossbred Karan Fries calves were divided into three groups of 6 animals each based on body weight and age to study the effect of positive dietary cation anion difference (DCAD) based diet on DM intake, blood biochemical parameters and immunity status during summer months. The calves in control group received basal diet while animals in groups S1 and S2 were offered +250 or +350 mEq/kg DM DCAD based diets, respectively. The temperature humidity index (THI) was calculated at 07: 30 AM and 02: 30 PM daily. The physiological variables (respiration rate, pulse and rectal temperature) were not affected by dietary treatments though variations were observed due to changes in THI. The overall DMI was higher (P<0.05) in group S2 (4. 93 kg/d) as compared to control (4.36 kg/d). Blood glucose level, FRAP value, SOD and catalase activity were similar in all the groups. Plasma total Ig (mg/mL), IgG (ng/mL) and IgM (ng/mL) levels increased (P<0.05) in group S2. Similar trend was observed for plasma T3 and T4 hormone levels. Plasma cortisol concentration was lower (P<0.05) in treatment groups as compared to control. It could be inferred that positive DCAD diet of +350 mEq/kg DM improved the nutrient intake and immunity status by ameliorating heat stress.

Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Chromium Yeast Alone and in Combination with Antioxidants on Performance of Broilers

| The present study was conducted to evaluate the impacts of dietary supplementation of chromium yeast alone and in combination with antioxidants on growth, feed conversion and nitrogen retention in broilers during winter season. A total of 180, Cob-400 straight run broiler chicks at one day-old, were randomly distributed into four equal groups replicated three times with 15 birds per replicate. The treatments consisted of 4 experimental groups as follows: T0, T1, T2 and T3. Chicks were fed corn-soya based broiler mash (basal diet) maintained as control (T0), the basal diet supplemented with chromium (Cr)at 0.5 mg Cr/kg diet from chromium yeast (T1), the basal diet + 0.5 mg Cr /kg diet from chromium yeast + 250 mg of ascorbic acid /kg of diet (T2), and the basal diet + 0.5 mg Cr /kg diet from chromium yeast + 250 mg vitamin E /kg of diet (T3). Body weight and feed consumption were recorded to evaluate the growth performance and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Nitrogen retention was observed by conducting metabolic trial during 6th week. The climatic data revealed that there were huge variations in house air temperatures within a day. In house relative humidity ranged from 29.01% to 44.21% during the experimental period. The average weight gains were numerically higher and FCR values were lower in supplemented groups particularly in T2 group than T0 group. The significantly higher (p< 0.05) nitrogen retention values were recorded in T2 group followed by T1than T0 group. It was concluded that Cr in combination with ascorbic acid yielded better results in terms of performance in broilers, thus suggesting some synergetic action of both Cr and ascorbic acid that need to investigate further with specially designed projects.

Performance of Broiler Chicken as Affected by Replacement of Maize with Pearl Millet and Broken Rice Mixture in the Diet

An experiment was conducted on three hundred and twenty, one day old commercial broiler chicks (Cobb strain) to study the effect of replacement of maize by graded levels of pearl millet and broken rice mixture (PBM) on their performance. The birds were randomly divided into four groups (80 birds/group). The experimental diets were: 0% maize replacement (T1), 25% maize replacement with PBM (T2), 50% maize replacement with PBM (T3), 75% maize replacement with PBM mixture (T4). The diets formulated were isocaloric and isonitrogenous as per ICAR (2013). Experiment was conducted for 42 days. The body weight gain (g) was significantly (P<0.05) higher in group T3 (2049.10) in comparison to T1 (1972.00) but the values were statistically similar for T2 (2012.50) and T4 (2009.40) groups. The feed intake was similar irrespective of different dietary treatments. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was higher in group T1 (1.87) in comparison to T3 (1.78) and T4 (1.80). However, the metabolizability of nutrients, carcass characteristics and blood biochemical parameters were similar in all the groups except liver weight which was found to be higher (P<0.05) in group T1 in comparison to T3 and T4 with intermediate values for group T2. The feed cost per kg body weight gain in T4 (` 31.64) was significantly (P<0.05) lower than T2 (` 32.69) and T3 (` 32.64) where as for T1, it (` 32.28) was similar to groups T2, T3 and T4. It was concluded that maize may be replaced by PBM in the diet of broiler birds up to 75% without any adverse effect.

Effect of Niacin Supplementation on in-vitro Rumen Fermentation Pattern in crossbred Cattle

An in vitro experiment was conducted to study the effect of supplementation of different levels of niacin (0, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700 and 800 ppm) on rumen fermentation and digestibility. The substrate comprised of concentrate mixture, maize fodder and wheat straw (40:20:40). Results revealed that TCA-ppt. N (mg/100 ml incubation media) and TVFA concentration (meq/100 ml incubation media) were significantly (P<0.05) higher at 600 ppm (17.56; 7.28) as compared to control (12.12; 6.38). The molar proportion of propionate was also higher at 600 ppm (26.52%) as compared to control (25.87%). The total gas (ml) production increased in a linear fashion whereas methane level decreased significantly (P<0.05) with graded levels of niacin. The NH3-N (mg/100 ml incubation media) decreased significantly (P<0.05) from 15.26 (control) to 10.71 (600 ppm). The IVDMD (%) and IVOMD (%) also increased from 44.04 to 48.04 and 53.91 to 57.38, at 0 and 600 ppm niacin supplementation, respectively. The three higher levels of niacin viz. 600, 700 and 800 ppm had comparable fermentation parameters viz. digestibility, total gas, methane, TCA-ppt. N, TVFA, acetate, propionate and butyrate. It was concluded that 600 ppm niacin level is comparatively better than other niacin levels.