Vol. 12, Issue 6 (2023)

Author(s):
V Sankar, P Senthilkumar, N Sribalaji, P Nalini and J Muralidharan

Abstract:
The present research work was carried out to study the economics of feeding shade-dried azolla as a protein replacer in the concentrate feed in Mecheri lambs. Twelve Mecheri ewe lambs were randomly divided into two groups with six number of lambs in each group for 90 days experiment. The experimental animals were fed with a measured quantity of concentrate mixture and sorghum fodder was offered ad libitium as per nutrient requirement. In group II, 10 percent protein requirement through concentrate mixture was replaced by shade-dried azolla meal. The feed intake and body weight was recorded at fortnightly interval to analyze the cost of production per kg body weight. The ADG was higher in group I (65.93±0.632g) than the group II (59.63±0.80 g), but there was no significant (p>0.05) difference between the groups. The cost per Kg gain was Rs. 173.01 and Rs 182.43 in the group I and group II respectively. The Cost of feed per day/animal was Rs. 11.40 and Rs. 10.63 in the group I and group II respectively. The cost of feed per day was lower in the group II compared to the group I, but the cost per kg gain was high in the group II compared to the group I. Even though slightly higher cost in weight gain azolla can be used as alternative feed to reduce the use of conventional protein ingredients like soybean meal and groundnut cake.