Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology
Year : 2001, Volume : 1, Issue : 1
First page : ( 39) Last page : ( 50)
Print ISSN : 0972-2963.

Performance of crossbred calves on acid processed or copper and iodine supplemented high glucosinolate mustard meal incorporated diets

Tripathi M.K.*, Agrawal I.S., Sharma S.D.

Department of Animal Science GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology Pantnagar 263 145, India

*Reprint request: Division of Animal Nutrition. Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute, Avikanagar - 304501, India. Tel: +91-1437-28072: Fax; +91-1437-28163; E-mail mktripathi@cswri.raj.nic.in

Received:  11  June,  2000.

Abstract

The Performance of growing calves was assessed on hydrochloric acid (HCI) treated (16 ml HCI per kg meal raising the moisture content to nearly 40 percent, diffused for 72 hrs. followed by heating at 180°C for 2h, (T2), copper and iodine supplemented (500 mg each per kg meal as CuSO, and KI, respectively (T3) and untreated mustard (Brassica juncea) meal (T4) incorporated diets, completely replacing soybean meal of control diet (T1), in a 24 weeks growth trial, with 6 crossbred (Jersey × Sahiwal) calves in each treatment. The calves fed T2 diet gained more weight (P<0.05) as compared to those on T1 diet. The ADG was the highest in T2 (413g), followed by T3 (339g), T1 (3289) and T4 (1949). HCI treatment, copper and iodine supplementation improved DM intake and digestibility of nutrients. The DCP and ME intake per unit metabolic body size was similar (P>0.05) among soybean meal, HCI treated and copper and iodine supplemented groups, but was higher (P<0.05) as compared to untreated mustard meal diet. Body composition of calves in four groups was similar; the total body water, protein and fat content ranged, respectively, from 45.6 to 59.6, 12.6 to 16.8 and 18.6 to 35.8 per cent of the body weight. Mustard meal after HCI treatment can be utilized as suitable substitute for soybean meal in the diet of growing crossbred calves.

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Key words

Mustard meal, Glucosinolate, Copper, Iodine, HCI treatment, Calves.

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Introduction

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Materials and Methods

Treatment of Mustard meal

Expeller processed mustard meal, containing 89.8% dry matter (DM), 28.3% crude protein (CP), 10.7% ether extract (EE) and 46.2 mg glucosinolates per g of oil extracted meal, was treated with 16 ml HCI per kg. at 40 per cent moisture, diffused for 72 h and dried at 180°C in hot air oven for 1 hr as per method of (Tripathi and Agrawal, 1998).

Animals and Housing

Twenty four male cross-bred (Jersey × Sahiwal) calves (230 ± 15.40 days and 86.6±2.7 kg BW) were randomly assigned to four dietary treatment (T1, T2, T3 and T4) on the basis of age and body weights. The animals were housed in individual pens.

Feeds and Feeding

Four concentrate mixtures were fed to four groups of experimental calves. Concentrate mixture (CM-I) contained soybean meal (SBM) and served as control, while CM II,III and IV contained mustard meal, HCI treated, untreated mustard meal and supplemented with CuSO₄ and KI, each @ 500 mg per kg and untreated mustard meal, respectively (Table 1). The respective concentrate mixtures were fed to meet the total protein requirement (ICAR, 1998) of calves and allowances were adjusted as per increment in the body weights throughout 24 weeks feeding. The Oats hay (Trial I) or a mixture of green (Trial II) Jowar (Andropogon Sorghum), Maize (Zea mays) and Oats (Avena sativa) in equal proportions was fed as basal roughage ad libitum to meet rest of the energy requirements. Free choice of water was available to the animals twice a day in the morning and evening. The animals were dewormed in the beginning of the experiment with albendazole @ 10 mg/kg body weight. The calves were weighed for three consecutive days at each fortnight before offering feed and water, the mean of which was used to assess the total and average daily gain.

Digestibility trials

Two digestibility trials each of seven days duration, at 45 days and 175 days of experimental feeding were carried out in individual pens by conventional total collection method. During the trial samples of concentrate mixture, feed offered, orts and faeces were collected. The mean of initial and final body weight during trial were used for the calculation of intake. Samples of feed, faeces and orts were dried in hot air oven, pooled and ground samples were utlilized for chemical analysis. A part of preserved fresh faeces was used for nitrogen estimation.

Chemical analysis

Samples of feed, orts and faeces were analysed for proximate principles (AOAC, 1990) and cell wall fractions (Goering and Van Soest, 1970). The gross energy (GE) content was determined by chromic oxide indicator method (Hill et al., 1960). The metabolizable energy (ME) of ruminant feeds was calculated using the following equation (Kirchgessner, 1995): where, ME = ME of feed (MJ/kg), DXL = Digestible total lipids (g/kg), DXF = Digestible total fibre (g/kg), DOM = Digestible organic matter (g/kg), XP=N {6.25 (g/kg)}

Total glucosinolate content of mustard meal and concentrate mixtures was determined using thymol method (Tholen et al., 1989). Calcium was estimated by titrimetric method (AOAC, 1965) and phosphorus by colorimetric method (Donald et al., 1956). Copper and iron levels in feeds were determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Perkin-Elmer, USA).

Body composition

The body composition of experimental calves was determined at the end of growth trial using antipyrine dilution technique as suggested by Brodie et al. (1949) and modified by Wellington et al. (1956). The total body water was calculated (Soberman, 1950) from antipyrine level in plasma. The empty body weight was determined using the procedure of Bensadoum et al., (1963), whereas body fat and body protein by Reid et al. (1963). The body mineral content was determined by subtracting the water and organic matter content of the body.

Statistical analysis

Data of intake and digestibility were subjected to analysis of variance (Snedecor and Cochran, 1968). Data on growth were analysed using mathematical model (Harvey, 1975).

Where, u = General mean, Ti = Effect of i^th treatment, Aj = Effect of j^th age, W_k = Effect of_k^th initial body weight, eij_k= Random error.

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Results and Discussion

Nutrient digestibility

The digestibility of nutrients was similar (P>0.05) in all the four groups in trial I, whereas, it was significantly (P>0.05) different in trial II (Table 2). The digestibility of OM, CP and GE was similar in T1, T2 and T3 and was higher to that of T4, whereas the digestibility of DM was highest in T2 as compared to that on other diets, which was similar (P>0.05). However, the NDF digestibility was depressed on T4 diet than the comparable digestibility on other diets. But ADFwas digested similarly by calves on all diets. The glucosinolate present in the mustard meal exhibited deleterious effects on the digestive abilities of the calves and the lower digestibility coefficients were in T4 during trial II. Further, it is envisaged that glucosinolates require some time for the manifestation of their deleterious effects on animal performance. Hence, the digestibility of the nutrients on untreated mustard meal affected adversely. These are in agreement with the results of Tripathi et al. (1995). The digestive processes as a result of microbial and fungal activities in the rumen got disturbed due to antifungal properties of glucosinolates (Manici et al., 1997; Verkerk et al, 1997) But HCI treatment, copper and iodine supplementation were found to reduce such deleterious effects and thereby, improved nutrient digestibility.

Plane of nutrition, growth and body composition

The daily intake of concentrate mixture was similar among the calves on all the diets during both the trials. However, the DMI per 100 kg body weight (P<0.01) and per unit metabolic body size was higher (P<0.05) on control diet than the comparable intake on test diets during trial I and it was due to variation in DMI through roughage (Table 3). The DCP and ME intake per unit metabolic body size were lower (P<0.05) on untreated mustard meal incorporated diets, but the intake of these constituents were similar on all other diets. The intake of DCP and ME was as per requirements of ICAR (1998) on all the diets, except on T4, which was lower by 27 and 24 per cent for DCP and ME, respectively.

The growth of calves on untreated mustard meal was depressed as compared to similar growth of calves on other diets. The average ADG was 328, 413, 339 and 1949 in TI, T2, T3 and T4 groups, respectively. The growth of calves was constantly poor in T4 group inspite of an increase in feeding period (Fig 1). The body composition of calves was found to be similar among all the groups (Table 4). The poor growth response on untreated mustard meal (T4) was probably due to the cumulative effect of lower DCP and ME intake, and the presence of glucosinolate in the diet. The lower average daily gain was also reported (Kossaibatti and Bryant, 1994; Tripathi et al., 1998) on untreated rapeseed/mustard meal as compared to SBM or GNC diets. Glucosinolates and/or its metabolites impairs liver function, induce iodine deficiency (Panter and James, 1990; Barrett et al., 1997) and create hindrance in DNA synthesis (Nugon-Boudon and Rabot, 1994; Verkerk, 1997), thereby impaired growth. The HCI treatment (T2), Cu and I supplementation (T3) reduced such deleterious effect of glucosinolate and resulted in a better growth. Further, the supplementation of copper during active growth phase acts as a growth promoter and iodine supplementation normalises the availability of iodine for the thyroid. The heating during HCI treatment of meal not only decomposes the glucosinolate, it also reduces the degradability of protein and improve the efficiency of utilization of amino acids for growth (Mustafa et al., 1999).

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CONCLUSION

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Figure

Figure 1: Body weight changes of calves on various dietary treatments TopBack

Tables

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr. Mahender S Rahal, Associate professor, Animal Nutrition, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar for his critical suggestions, valuable help and cooperation during the experiment.

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