*PAR Division, Indian Grassland & Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi-284 003
Dairy Cattle Nutrition Division, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132 001, India
Online published on 29 December, 2011.
Sixteen crossbred lactating goats were divided into two equal groups and fed concentrate mixture containing either groundnut cake (GNC) (group I) or mustard cake (MC) (group II) as sole protein source along with oats fodder. A metabolism trial conducted after 80 days of feeding on 7 animals from each group revealed that average dry matter intake (DMI) was similar (1.134±0.080 vs 1.146±0.062, kg/d) in both the groups. Average total intake of water from all the sources in group I was 5.524±0.257 kg and in group II 5.516±0.199 kg. The value for total water excretion was 1.649±0.073 and 1.678±0.147 kg for groups I and II, respectively. Insensible water loss was 3.8752±0.197 kg in group I and 3.838±0.118 kg in group II. The results indicated that dietary sources of protein did not affect water metabolism in lactating goats.
Protein source, Water metabolism, Goat
