Vol. 11, Special Issue 11 (2022)

Author(s):
YA Desai, JV Patel, SV Shah and RJ Modi

Abstract:
The calves were randomly assigned to four watering frequency (T₁, T₂, T₃ & T₄) and two feeding treatments (F₁&F₂), a total of eight treatments, on the basis of sex and body weight viz., T₁F₁: watering frequency ad lib. with 50:50 mixture of legume (soyabean) straw and cereal (wheat) straw, T₁F₂: watering frequency ad lib. with Jowar hay, T₂F₁: watering frequency once a day with 50:50 mixture of legume (soyabean) and cereal (wheat) straw, T₂F₂: watering frequency once a day with Jowar hay, T₃F₁: watering frequency twice a day with 50:50 mixture of legume and cereal straw, T₃F₂: watering frequency twice a day with Jowar hay, T₄F₁: watering frequency thrice a day with 50:50 mixture of legume and cereal straw and T₄F₂: watering frequency thrice a day with Jowar hay. In all treatments, fixed quantity of concentrate and green fodder were also offered to calves. Twenty four crossbred calves were used for 98 days experimental period. Blood samples were collected three times i.e., 0, 45 and 90 days of experiment from the jugular vein of each experimental animal under aseptic precaution. Haemoglobin and PCV (%) was significantly (p<0.05) higher in T₂ and T₃ as compared to T₁. However, haemoglobin and PCV of experimental animals in T₄ group was at par with remaining treatments. Average BUN, Uric acid, Creatinine, SGPT and SGOT was found to be higher in once day watering frequency (T₂) as compared to other groups. A statistically non-significant difference in mean of haemoglobin, PCV, creatinine, glucose, total protein, SGPT and SGOT in two feeding treatments. Jowar hay fed calves had significant higher (p<0.05) in BUN and uric acid level than mixture of legume and cereal straw. All blood parameters were with in normal range except BUN, uric acid and creatinine in once watering frequency.