Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute, Avikanagar, Via - Jaipur, (Raj), 304 501
Four groups of six adult fine wool sheep were maintained on ad lib untreated khejri leaves as sole feed, T1; water (50 l/q) treated khejri leaves, T2; khejri leaves treated with PEG-4000 (1.5% W/W) T3 and khejri leaves mixed with ground cenchrus hay in 1:1 ratio plus urea 1% by wt. T4, for a period of three months. One animal from each group was ruminally fistulated to study the rumen fermentation pattern. pH of rumen liquor did not differ from each other in different treatment groups. Total nitrogen of rumen liquor was higher in T2 (74.76 mg/100 ml SRL) and T3 (78.00 mg/100 SRL) than in T1 and T4 (56.01 and 72.96 mg/100 ml SRL) whereas TCA perceptible nitrogen was maximum in T4 (63.01 mg/100 ml SRL). Ammonia nitrogen was significantly higher in T4 (9.94 mg/100 ml SRL) than other three groups. The animals in T1 and T2 lost (P<0.05) body weight (−4.56 and −3.72 kg) compared to T3 (−0.59 kg) while there was a gain in body weight in T4 (1.66 kg). Leaves of Prosopis cineraria (khejri) are commonly fed to the ruminants in arid and semi arid region of India (Bhandari et al, 1979; FAO, 1992). The leaves contain tannins 8 to 10% (Bohra, 1980; Kumar 1983), which cause reduction in feed intake, nutrient digestion and reduced animal production (Kumar and D'Mello, 1995) due to their ability to form complexes with dietary and enzymic proteins. Polyethylene glycol-4000 has been shown to alleviate the deleterious effect of tannins (Kumar, 1992) and the evidences exist that deleterious effect can be diluted when tannin containing material is fed in combination with other feeds. Therefore, the present work was carried out to study the effect of feeding untreated or treated khejri leaves on various N-fractions in the rumen of the sheep.
