Effect of milk replacement from diets on performance of growing female Albino rats

To assess the influence of milk replacement from the diet on performance, 30 female albino rats (5–6 weeks of age) were randomly divided into three equal groups following completely randomization design. In group 1, rats were fed a milk based control diet, whereas in groups 2 and 3, rats were fed experimental diets in which milk was completely replaced with deoiled groundnut cake (DGNC) and lard. The rats were weighed at weekly intervals. After 10 weeks of experimental feeding, a digestion trial was conducted to assess the nutrient digestibility. The rats were allowed to breed at 11 weeks post-feeding. The DM and OM intake (g/kg W ^0.75/d) ranged from 0.27 to 0.24 and 0.25 to 0.22, respectively, and were not significantly different among three groups. Similar observations were found with respect to the CP and TDN intake. The digestibility (%) of DM, OM, CP, EE, NDF and ADF was comparable among three groups and resulting eventually in similar nutritive value for the three diets in terms of DCP and TDN. The body weight gain (g/d) varied from 1.58 (Gr.1) to 1.70 (Gr.3) and were without significant differences among 3 groups. Litter size was 5.50, 4.67 and 5.12 respectively, which did not differ significantly among the groups. Mortality in groups 1, 2 and 3 was 20, 10 and 20%, respectively. Based on the results of this study it can be concluded that rats fed milk replaced diets, performed equally well and hence, such feeding schedule with cheaper diets devoid of milk is more economical.