Growth Feed Efficiency and Economics Under Intensive Production System of Pre-weaned Lambs and Kids Supplemented With Non-conventional Creep Mixtures
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Date
1999
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AAU, Anand
Abstract
On any livestock farm, feeding accounts for more than 2/3rd of the total expenditure. A little saving in this cost can increase the profit significantly. Keeping this in mind, the present study was conducted with the following objectives : The present experiment was conducted in three different phases. The first phase experiment was initiated with 17 pre-weaner lambs and 13 kids of around one month of age and was lasted for 112 days. The second phase was conducted on 18 weaner kids by feeding them complete feed in group and it lasted for six weeks. The third phase was also conducted on weaner kids (18) under individual feeding regime and it lasted for five weeks. In all the three phases, conventional feed was compared with the nonconventional feeds. The body v/eights of the lambs at the beginning and at the end of experiment period of 112 days (actual average age 142 days) in the three treatment groups were 6.57 + 1.22 and 16.42 ± 2.08 (T1. Conventional control, CC), 6.55 ± 0.76 and 21.52 ± 1.58 (T2: Non-conventional-I, NC-1) and 6.55 + 0.59 and 17.76 ± 0.85 kg (T3: Nonconventional- II, NC-2), respectively indicating an average growth of 87.90 ± 7.10, 133.53 + 7,33 and 100.04 + 5.90 g/day in the three treatments, respectively. The differences among the treatments both, at the beginning and at the end of the experiment were statistically non-significant for the body weight whereas the growth rate was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in T2. The body weights of pre-weaned kids (Phase I) at the beginning of the experimental period were 4.28 ± 0.34 kg for T1 (Conventional Control - CC) and 4.98 ± 0.40 kg for T2 (Non-conventional-1 - NC-1). The same at the end of the experiment of eight bi-weekly intervals increased to 9.26 ± 0.49 and 9.90 ± 0.47 kg, respectively with an average growth rate of 44.34 ± 3.49 and 43.94 ± 3.29 g/day for the two treatments. The differences both at the beginning and at the end of the experimental period, however, were statistically at par. The body weights of weaner kids (Phase II) increased to 11.202 ± 0.27 (Conventional Control - CC), 11.082 ± 0.53 (Non-conventional-1 - NC-1) and 11.382 ± 0.26 kg (Non-conventional-2 - NC-2) from 10.367 ± 0.26, 10.488 ± 0.43 and 10.183 ± 0.31 kg in T1, T2 and T3 groups, respectively and were at par. A linear increasing trend was observed in the body weight of kids throughout the experimental period in all the treatments. The growth rate of weaner kids (Phase II) fed non-conventional complete feed-2 (28.53 t 5.63) wa.s significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that observed in the control (19.88 ±1.11 g-May) or the non-conventional-1 kids (14.15 ± 6.01 g/day). The average body weight at the beginning of the experiment of weaner kids in Phase m was 10.82 + 0.41, 10.80 + 0.73 and 10.85 ± 0.44 kg for T1, T2 and T3 groups, respectively. The same increased to 13.30 + 0.72, 13.68 ± 0.89 and 13.12 ± 0.68 kg. respectively. The growth rate (g/day) of kids in Phase HI was higher in T3 (77.14 ± 9.93) followed by Tl (68.90 ± 8.57) and T2 (63.28 + 10.41). The differences among the treatments, were at par. The increase in body length, heart girth and height at withers of the lambs was observed to be 13.66 + 2.00, 20.09 ± 1.47 and 16.00 ± 1.91 cm, 10.26 ± 0.71, 10.92 + 0.89 and 11.45 ± 1.06 cm and 18.03 + 1.82, 20.39 ± 0.58 and 19.69 ± 1.47 cm for the three treatment groups, respectively. The differences among the treatments were nonsignificant The increase in body length, heart girth and height at withers of the experimental kids (Phase I) was observed to be 9.01 ± 1.70 and 7.32 ± 1.00 cm, 9.96 ± 1.34 and 9.32 ± 0.63 cm and 6.88 ± 1.04 and 6.35 ± 0.66 cm, respectively for the two treatment groups, respectively. The differences among the treatments were statistically non-significant. The DM intake by lambs of Phase I was 491.55 ± 17.26, 526.46 ± 2.87 and 488.64 ± 7.37g/day; 58.70 ± 3.55; 49.81 ± 1.00 and 53.47 ± 1.46 g/kgW0.75 and 2.90 ± 0.26; 2.26 ± O06 and 2.55 ± 0G8 kg/100 kg bodj' weight for Tl, T2 and T3 treatments, respectively. The DM intake in all the three forms for all the treatments was statistically similar. The digestibility of all the proximate nutrients was higher for the conventional group as compared to the non-conventional treatments. The mean balance of nitrogen of the lambs fed conventional, non-conventional-1 and non-conventional-2 creep mixtures was found to be 4.73 ± 0.16, 4.62 ± 0.06 and 3.64 ± 0.11 g/lamb/day, respectively. The nitrogen balance of T3 was observed to be the lowest (P < 0 05) as compared to those observed for the CC and NC-1.
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Keywords
LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION, A STUDY