Influence of Feeding Albizia lebbeck and Terminalia arjuna Leaves on Growth Performance and Nutrient Utilization in Surti Kids

Thirty growing Surti kids were divided into five treatments of six animals each to evaluate the effects of feeding Albizia lebbeck (AL) and Terminalia arjuna (TA) leaves on growth performance and nutrient utilization. The kids in treatment T₁ (control) were fed with basal diet containing 200 g of green jowar which was replaced with AL leaves (T₂), TA leaves (T₂) or equal mixture of AL and TA leaves in treatment T₄ (200 g) and T₅ (300 g). The nutrient intake was not affected by feeding of tree leaves. Digestibility of all the nutrients and fibre fractions were higher (P<0.05) in treatmnet T₄ which was at par with treatments T₃ and T₁. Balances of nitrogen and Ca (% of intake) were similar in all the groups while that of phosphorus was higher (P<0.05) in treatment T₄. Growth rate was higher in treatment T₃ (45.04±0.56 g) and lower in T₂ (37.25±0.57 g). FCR was similar in all the treatments. Cost of feeding showed a reduction due to inclusion of tree leaves while economics of growth (Feed cost/kg gain) was comparable among groups. It could be concluded that replacement of sorghum with TA leaves improved the digestibility and growth performance without affecting economics in terms of cost/kg gain.