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1Present Address : Department of Animal Sciences, College of Agriculture, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar 263 145, U.P.
Thirty crossbred heifers were divided into five equal groups and fed on concentrate mixture having control ingredients (I), untreated fish meal (UFM; II), HCHO treated fish meal (TFM; III), untreated groundnut cake (UGNC; IV) and HCHO treated GNC (TGNC; V). Restricted amounts (0.5 kg DM/100 kg body weight) of green sorghum (Sorghum bicolor)(lahi (Brassica juncea) was given along with ad libitum urea-treated wheat straw.
There was no significant effect on digestibility of DM, OM, ADF, NDF and energy. Although the intake of CP was significantly (P < 0.05) more in HCHO-treated groups, its digestibility was not affected. The animals in groups fed UGNC and TGNC grew at a significantly higher rate (443g and 492g/d) than those in groups fed UFM and TFM (328g and 312g/d). Lower intake of DE on fish meal diets than the requirements was also observed. The results indicated that although GNC responded to HCHO treatment in terms of improved (P>0.05) growth rate, there was no such response with fish meal.