Vol. 12, Issue 3 (2023)

Author(s):
LM Sorathiya, VS Suthar, CM Bhadesiya, SD Rathwa and NB Bhati

Abstract:
The herbal galactogogues are ethnoveterinary products prepared for feeding to lactating cows for improving milk production and composition. The effect of a herbal galactogogue having Asparagus racemosus, Pueraria tuberosa, Leptadenia reticulata and Trigonella foenum-graecum (Ydik Healthcare Products LLP, Ahmedabad) was evaluated in 14 healthy lactating Gir cows which were kept under similar management practices and offered with similar feeding materials. The same set of cows was used as treatment as well as control group. The pre-trial period of 1 month was considered as control phase in which animals were not offered the abovesaid galactogogue mixture. After 1 month all cows were fed with said herbal galactogogue mixture @ 15 gm/cow/day for 15 consecutive days. Body condition scoring(BCS) was measured two times, i.e., before feeding of herbal galactogogue mixture and at end of feeding period. The daily milk yield was recorded for whole experimental period. Milk samples were drawn at weekly interval in pretrial phase and 6 observations after completion of feeding galactogogue mixture i.e. 15 days onward. The milk samples were analyzed for milk fat % and SNF% by using Lactoscan machine. The pre-trial set data was compared with post-trial set of data by using independent samples ‘t’ test in SPSS 26. The BCS of cows significantly (p<0.01) improved after feeding the galactogogue mixture. Additionally. The average daily milk yield (lit.), milk fat (%) and SNF (%) also increased significantly (p<0.01). The observations of this pilot study strongly suggest that the herbal galactogogue used in the study has beneficial effects on BCS, milk yield, milk fat and SNF contents in Gir cows; however, it should be subjected to further large-scale investigations to derive stronger recommendations and conclusions using a greater number of cattle.