Performance of Female Calves Fed Sorghum Silage and Concentrate Mixture Containing Formaldehyde Treated Groundnut Cake

Eighteen crossbred (Haryana s Holstein) female calves (8–13 months, 127±9.54 kg b.wt.), divided into 3 groups of 6 each, were fed concentrate mixtures containing 1% formaldehyde (HCHO) treated groundnut cake (GNC) so as to replace 0 (T₁), 40 (T₂) and 60% (T₃) moiety of untreated GNC for 95 days. Sorghum silage was offered ad libitum as roughage source. Daily DM intake was 3.86, 4.17 & 4.55 kg or 85.01, 90.27 & 94.48 g per kg W^0.75 in groups T₁, T₂, and T₃, respectively which did not differ significantly. The digestibility of nutrients also did not differ significantly amongst the groups. Average daily gain was 394.0, 460.0 and 494.8g in groups T₁, T₂ and T₃, respectively and the the differences were nonsignificant. Serum urea (mg/dl) and creatinine kinase enzyme activity (IU/I) were lower (P<0.05) in group T₃ (19.76 & 117.61) than in groups T₁ (25.91 & 127.05) and T₂ (24.28 & 124.71). However, serum glucose and protein levels remained similar among groups.