Department of veterinary Biochemistry, College of veterinary Science Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500 030, India
A complete diet was formulated with cotton stalks as sole source of roughage (40.0%) and processed into pellets using expander extruder and fed to 6 Nellore rant lambs and 6 local male kids (4–5 m) to record its effect on growth and meat production in sheep and goats. At the end of the experiment, 3 animals from each group were slaughtered to study carcass characteristics. Lambs recorded higher (P<0.05) ADG compared to kids. The cost of feed/kg gain was decreased by 10.6 per cent in lambs compared to kids. The dressing percentage and proportions of wholesale cuts were within the normal limits in both the species. These results indicated that crop residues like cotton stalks can be incorporated in the rations of growing sheep and goats without any adverse effect and this type of feeding reduces the cost of feed for meat production. Further, this type of feeding helps for rearing sheep and goats under intensive system.
Cotton stalks, onfarm situation, complete diet, expander-extruder proccssing, meat production
