Blood Biochemical Profile of Crossbred Heifers Fed on Perennial Grasses Intercropped with Soybean

The perennial grasses viz. hybrid sorghum, setaria, hybrid napier, guinea and green panic grasses intercropped with soybean were assessed for their mineral composition and effect of feeding on biochemical profile of growing crossbred heifers. Twenty crossbred heifers were divided into 5 treatments viz. T₁-hybrid sorghum+soybean, T₂-setaria+soybean, T₃-hybrid napier+soybean, T₄-guinea grass+soybean and T₅-green panic grass+soybean. The animals were fed on above herbag mixture ad lib for 60 days. The herbage mixtures were analyzed for calcium, phosphorus, copper, zinc, iron and manganese contents. Blood samples of experimental animals were collected before and after the feeding trial and analysed for blood glucose, packed cell volume, haemoglobin, Ca, P, Cu, Zn, Fe and Mn contents. The data revealed that there was insignificant increase in haemoglobin and blood glucose in T₃ herbage mixture fed animals as compared to other treatment groups. After the feeding trial there was insignificant increase in the plasma calcium in all the animals irrespective of treatment groups and other plasma minerals remained similar in different diets. It is concluded that the blood biochemical profiles studied in the growing crossbred heifers could not be influenced by feeding different herbag mixtures.