A Study on Rumen Enzymes of Camel (Camelus dromedaries) Maintained on Different Diets

Abstract

The camel Camelus dromedarius is an important livestock species uniquely adapted to hot and arid environment. Their choices feed includes dicotyledons. In developing countries like India where economy is growing, common keepers most often do not feed concentrate to their camels unless they become rundown. Due to introduction of new feed resources, this study was an attempt to investigate the rumen enzymes of camel maintained on different diets. There experimental groups of camel viz, Group 1 camel were given gaur phalgati (Cymopsis tetragonoloba) and ground nut (Archis hypogaea) chara in 1:1 ratio. Group 2 camels were give ground nut chara alone while in Group 3 camels jiggery 50%w/v was administrated as a single dose orally @ 15g’kg body weight apart from feding of ground nut chara were studied for their rumen enzymes. It could be concluded that in Group 3 camels which were given jiggery in addition to ground nut chara showed a significant change in the pattern and it could therefore be envisaged that there exists a significant role of nutrition on digestive pattern.