Effect of feeding of moringa (moringa oleifera) leaf meal based diets on the biometry and body condition score of deccani lambs

Abstract

An investigation was carried out to study the effect of feeding Moringa leaf meal-based diets on the biometry and body condition score in Deccani growing lambs. Eighteen growing either sex of lambs with uniform body weights (14.22 ± 1.5 kg) and aged between 4 and 8 months were selected for the study and randomly allotted to three treatment groups with six lambs in each group (6 x 3). Three experimental diets were prepared using 100 per cent groundnut cake (T1), 75% groundnut cake+ 25% Moringa oliefera leaf meal (T2) and 50% groundnut cake+ 50 % Moringa oliefera leaf meal (T3) as protein source in the concentrate mixture and all lambs fed with ad libitum green fodder. The investigation was conducted for 90 days. The fortnightly biometric measurement findings indicated that the mean fortnight body length, face length and hip width of growing Deccani lambs increased linearly throughout the experimental period and body length had a significant difference (P<0.05) among the treatments while the height at wither, chest girth, face length and tail length showed non-significance difference between the groups. The final body condition score was significant (P<0.01) among the three treatment groups. Significantly (P<0.05) higher BCS was observed in T2 group lambs than T1 and T3 group lambs from 3rd to 6th fortnight. Inclusion of Moringa oliefera leaf meal at 25% in the concentrate mixture improved the biometry and body condition score in lambs reared in intensive farming system