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 proteinlow 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 divided 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 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 that 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 advance their sexual maturity.