Effect of feeding untreated and water washed neem (Azadirachta indica A juss) seed kernel cake on rumen enzyme profile and fermentation pattern in crossbred calves Mondal D.P.1, Garg A.K.* Centre of Advanced Studies in Animal Nutrition, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar - 243 122, India *Reprit request: Dr. A.K. Garg, Tel: +91-581-585324; Fax: +91-581-447284; E-mail: pn@ivri.up.nic.in
1Present address: Veterinary Surgeon, Block Animal Health Centre, Hili, P.O. Fatepur, Dakshin Dinajpur, West Bengal - 733 126, India Abstract Present experiment was conducted to study the effect of feeding neem seed kernel cake (NSKC) and water washed NSKC (WWNSKC) on rumen fermentation pattern and enzyme profile. Three rumen fistulated crossbred male calves (198±5.7 kg) were fed 3 different iso-nitrogenous concentrate mixtures having either deoiled groundnut cake (DGNC, control, A), neem seed kernel cake (NSKC, B) or water washed NSKC (WWNSKC, C) as the major protein source in a 3 X 3 switch over Latin square design. Strained rumen liquor (SRL) and rumen content (RC) samples were collected after 4 hr of concentrate feeding for 3 consecutive days after three weeks of experimental feeding on each ration in each phase. Feeding of NSKC and WWNSKC, while had no adverse effect on rumen pH, total volatile fatty acids concentration, holotrichs count, and activities of amylase, xylanase and CM-cellulase; there was, however, a significant depression in the total-N, NH3-N, TCA soluble-N, total protozoa count, and activities of urease and protease enzymes. Medium size and total spirotrichs were, while significantly reduced with the feeding of NSKC, these were comparable in WWNSKC and DGNC groups. It was deduced that the medium size and total spirotrich protozoa count may be used as an indicator to test if a neem seed cake has been properly water washed and made suitable for animal feeding. Top Key words Neem seed cake, Processing, Rumen fermentation, Calves. Top |