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DIVISION OF ANIMAL NUTRITION



Research Achievements

  • A strategic supplementary schedule developed for field flocks for optimising production.
  • Concentrate supplementation to lambs at 1.5% of BW during pre-weaning and 2.5% of BW during post-weaning recommended for 25% higher growth.
  • Nutritive value of grasses, legumes, top feeds, pastures and prickly pear cactus evaluated
  • Fallen tree leaves up to 20% in the diet and siris and prosopis pods up to 40% in the concentrate feed can be incorporated.
  • Maintenance requirement 36 g TDN and 5 g of DCP per kg metabolic weight is recommended.
  • Ewe during advanced pregnancy requires 7.8 g of DCP and 58.7 g of TDN per kg metabolic weight.
  • Nitrogen-sulphur ratio of 5:1 and sulphur level of 0.24% in the diet is considered optimum for wool production.
  • Sheep spent 4.16 MJ of energy daily on stall and spent 43% more energy on pasture.
  • A stocking rate of 5 ewes/ha on cenchrus gave satisfactory performance.
  • Silvi-pasture provide biomass of 21- 28 q/ha and support sheep performance.
  • Damaged wheat can be incorporated in lamb ration.
  • Creep ration should contain 14.5% CP and 2.97 Mcal energy for higher pre-weaning gain.
  • Milk replacer with coconut oil or a combination of vegetable oil provides feed conversion ratio < 4.0 in lambs.
  • Various feed formulations (high grain, inclusion of bypass fat) support growth rate of 150-180 g per day with 18-20% feed efficiency and lambs attain 33 kg BW at 6 month of age.
  • Spices straw serve as rumen modulator and ajowin, fenugreek and fennel incorporated up to 5-10% reduced methane production.
  • Similarly, tree leaves [Jatropha- (Jatropha curcas L), Pala (Ziziphus nummularia), Khejri (Prosopis cineraria), Ardu (Ailanthus excelsa), Neem (Azadirachta indica)] can be used (up to 20%) for lowering methane production and improving fermentation attributes.
  • Defaunation as a means of rumen metabolic manipulation could deliver more microbial and dietary protein availability with better ruminal fermentation efficiency.
  • Feeding of probiotics, e.g. Lactbacillus acidophilus during pre-weaning and Saccharomyces cerevisiae during post-weaning support GI health and improved gain and FCR.
  •  Area specific mineral mixture developed for different category of livestock to improve reproductive efficiency and milk yield.
  • Exogenous enzyme at pre-treatment of roughages at 30% moisture level improved nutrient digestibility.
  • Complete feeds with concentrate and roughage developed for different production.
  • Various tree leaves can be used up to 15% in the complete diet but maximum gain is obtained on mulberry based concentrate feed.
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