Growth and haemato-biochemical profile of lambs on diet containing cashew nut kernel meal

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of diets containing two levels of cashew nut kernel meal (CNKM) on growth, biochemical profile and economics in ram lambs during 90 days. In a completely randomized design, 18 ram lambs were equally divided into three dietary treatments comprising reen fodder viz., Super Napier and concentrate mixture containing CNKM at 0 (T,), 10 (T₂) and 20 (T₃) %, respectively. Significant (p<0.05) increase in average daily gain and feed conversion efficiency was observed with increasing level of CNKM in concentrate mixture. The inclusion of CNKM at 10 or 20% level had non-significant effect (p>0.05) on haemato-biochemical traits. Further, it resulted in decreased feed cost per kg weight gain to Rs. 103.86 in T₃ as compared to Rs. 123.67 in control. Hence, CNKM can be incorporated up to 20% economically in the diet of ram lambs.