Effect of feeding promising unconventional oil cakes on blood parameters in cross-bred calves

Abstract

There are many unconventional feed resources available in India. Among all, the most promising are mahua and karanj oil cakes which contain quality nutrients like that of conventional cakes. The effects of UOC combinations on rumen fermentation have not been tried so far. Moreover, studies are very scanty and little on the effects of feeding these UOC’s on rumen fermentation. So, the study was conducted to evaluate the effect of karanj and mahua oil cakes at 75:25 combinations on blood profile in crossbred calves. The twenty-four growing male crossbred calves were selected and divided into four groups of six animals each for feeding cum growth trial for 120 days. The four groups were T1 control, T2 fed 5% UOC combination containing concentrate mixture, T3 fed 7.5% UOC combination containing concentrate mixture and T4 fed 10% UOC combination containing concentrate mixture. There was no effect of feeding the UOC mixture on the glucose, total protein, albumin, globulin, A: G ratio, AST, ALT, ALP, serum urea, BUN, Haemoglobin, PCV, total leucocyte count and differential leucocyte count. These unconventional oil cakes in lower level would be useful for the preparation of concentrate mixture of the ruminant animal as it is having high protein content and nutrients with a cheaper price.