Performance of Male Camel Calves Fed on Pelleted Rations with Two Levels of Protein

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding two types of complete feed pelleted diets containing two levels of protein on nutrient utilization, growth performance and blood profile of male camel calves for 165 days. Nine healthy male camel calves (age 3.5 years; 430 kg BW) of Bikaner/Kutchchi breeds were randomly allotted to 2 groups, 5 calves in group P₁ fed 8.34% CP pellets and 4 in group P₂ which were fed 10.40% CP pellets but similar level of total digestible nutrients (65%). The growth rate, feed conversion ratio, digestibility of nutrients (DM, OM, CP, EE, CF, NDF and ADF), DM intake and TDN intake were similar in both the groups. However, DCP intake (g/kg W^0.75) was higher (P<0.05) in group P₂ (4.78) as compared to that in group P₁ (3.67). The levels of blood glucose, total protein, albumin, triglycerides, cholesterol and creatinine in two groups showed no difference whereas concentration of serum urea, calcium and phosphorus was higher (P<0.05) in group P₂ as compared to P₁. It was concluded that camel calves can be successfully reared on pelleted diet containing 8.34% CP and 65.01% TDN with 50: 50 roughage to concentrate ratio.