Effect of thermo-insulated kid hutch on huddling behaviour, health and faecal worm in black bengal kids born during winter Das Ajoy, Mandal Dilip Kumar1, Debbarma Asish1,*, Singh Bed Livestock Production and Management Section, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar-243 122, Uttar Pradesh 1Division of Livestock Production and Management, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Eastern Regional Station, Kalyani-741 235, West Bengal *E-mail address: asishdb68@gmail.com
Online Published on 12 February, 2024. Abstract A study aimed to evaluate the effect of thermo-insulated kid hutch (TIKH) on the huddling behaviour, health and faecal worm in Black Bengal kids born during winter. In January 2022, after birth, 12 kids were equally distributed into control (T0) and treatment (T1) groups along with their dams. Kids in T1 were provided a TIKH (100 cm length, 65 cm height and 65 cm width). Kids in T0 were housed in intensive system without TIKH. The minimum temperature (°C) in TIKH was significantly higher (P<0.01) as compared to goat shed in January (20.10±0.27 vs.16.68±0.30), February (21.46±0.31 vs.18.25±0.41), March (25.10±0.39 vs.23.78±0.42) and April (29.00±0.24 vs.27.24±0.15). On the other hand, the maximum temperature did not show any significant differences between the goat shed and TIKH in January and February. However, in March (P<0.05) and April (P<0.01), the maximum temperature (°C) in TIKH (35.03±0.51 and 36.18±0.35) was significantly lower than goat shed (36.04±0.56 and 38.14±0.45). The number of kids randomly spotted inside the TIKH was six (34.9%) >four (10.8%) >five (9.7%) >three (9.1%) >one (5.4%) and >two (4.9%). Faecal parasitic load (eggs per g, EPG) was significantly (P<0.01) lower in T1 (5.11±0.04 epg) as compared to T0 (5.38±0.07 epg). Likewise faecal oocyst count (oocytes per g, OPG) was significantly (P<0.05) lower in T1 (6.87±0.14 OPG) as compared to T0 (7.22±0.16 OPG). In conclusion, the provision of TIKH in goat sheds improved the health and overall performance of winter-born kids during pre- and post-weaning periods. Top Keywords Faecal score, Goat kids, Health, Parasitic load, Thermo-insulated kid hutch. Top |