Effect of plane of nutrition on blood biochemical parameters and attainment of sexual maturity in growing yaks

Abstract

Four divergent rations namely low protein-low energy (LP-LE), low protein-high energy (LP-HE), high protein low energy (HP-LE) and high protein-high energy (HP-HE) were formulated to supply two levels of digestible crude protein (DCP) 100 and 75% and 2 levels of energy (TDN) 100 and 75% for twenty four growing yaks (12 male and 12 female) of uniform age and body weights randomly dividing into 4 groups of 6 animals (3 male and 3 female) in each. At random one dietary treatment was allotted to each group for a period of one year. At the end of feeding trial average daily gain and feed conversion efficiency were observed to be highest in HE-HP group followed by HP-LE, LP-HE and LP-LE groups though their differences were statistically non-significant. The blood glucose level was highest in HP-HE group in comparison to the other groups; but the trends of plasma protein, albumin and urea levels were similar among the groups. The study also revealed high protein high energy ration is the suitable dietary combination for growing yak calves to support an average body weight gain of 371.8 g/day during 250 to 300 kg of body weight and could advances their sexual maturity.