RESPONSE IN GROWTH OF OSMANABADI WEANED KIDS TO VARIOUS HOUSING PATTERNS*

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1 Indian J. Anim. Res., 42 (1) : 29-33, 2008 RESPONSE IN GROWTH OF OSMANABADI WEANED KIDS TO VARIOUS HOUSING PATTERNS* R.A. Patil 1, L.M. Karanjkar V. S. Jadhav and S.G. Narwade Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Science Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani (M.S.) India. ABSTRACT Twenty four Osmanabadi weaned kids of similar age and body weights were randomly allotted to six housing patterns viz., : Floor murum with no ventilator + thatch roof (control), : Floor murum with no ventilation + tin roof, : Floor murum with one ventilator + thatch roof, : floor murum with one ventilator + tin roof, : floor murum with two ventilators + thatch roof and : Floor murum with two ventilators + tin roof. All the kids were maintained on the common feeding regime of available roughages and home-made concentrate mixture. The observations on body weight gains showed significant (P<0.01) differences among the treatments means. The kids kept under (12.30 kg) and (12.42 kg) showed superior growth to those under other treatments. Providing ventilation proved significantly superior (P<0.01) for body weight gains as compared with no floor ventilation. However, no significant gains in live weight could be recorded by providing either one or two floor ventilators. Provision of various roofs to the shed resulted in significant differences among the mean values of body weight gains. Covering the roof with a thatching materials proved beneficial and resulted significantly (P<0.01) higher body weight gains over to tin roofing. The cost of one kg gain in body weight was highest (Rs.9.41) in (tin roof with no ventilator) whereas lowest (Rs. 7.80) in (thatch roof with two ventilators). It is concluded that thatch roofed house with floor ventilation is economical for the better comfort and growth of the kids. INTRODUCTION Majority of the goats in India are housed in open space without providing them adequate and comfortable housing. In villages, goat farming is run under unscientific, unhygienic and stressful condition of housing. Goat buildings are constructed without any careful planning and designing. The suitable housing helps in promoting heat losses from the animal body by providing desired microenvironment and optimize their production by protecting them from extreme climate. Considering the housing situation in rural areas, an attempt was made to see the feasibility of suitable housing pattern with special reference to the type of roofing materials and ventilation at floor. The study was conducted on Osmanabadi breed. Osmanabadi is mainly reared for meat; its breeding tract Osmanabad, Beed, Latur, Solapur, Ahmednagar and adjoining parts of these districts of Maharashtra. The investigation was carried out at the University Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Science, Parbhani from March to October The temperature during this study ranged from 13.4 to 41.6 o C and the humidity from 13.0 to 91.0 per cent. MATERIAL AND METHODS Various houses were constructed with East-West orientation and required size (6.3m 2 ), height (3.30m), floor ventilator (0.90 x 0.37 m 2 ), open paddock (3.60 x 3.00 m 2 ) and protected by hexagonal wire netting. The thatch and tin sheets were used as roofing material for different treatment combinations. Treatment details Thatch is generally used as roofing material. The life of such thatch is about one to two year. Ill ventilated house may have increased humidity as high as 90 per cent and ammonia concentration up to 20 ppm (Gupta et al., 1985). The aim of the experimentation was to study six different housing patterns as different roofs and ventilation at the floor and accordingly the six treatment-groups were formulated (Table 1). *Part of the Ph. D. thesis of the Senior author 1 Present Address :- Deptt. of AHDS, College of Agriculture, Naigaon (Bz.) Dist:- Nanded (M.S.)

2 30 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH TABLE 1: Treatments details Treatment Floor Type Roof Type (control) Murum + No floor ventilator Thatch Murum + No floor ventilator Tin sheets Murum + One floor ventilator Thatch Murum + One floor ventilator Tin sheets Murum + Two floor ventilators Thatch Murum + Two floor ventilators Tin sheets Selection of kids Twenty four Osmanabadi weaned kids with similar age (approx. 3 months) and body weights were selected and randomly distributed among six groups; each consisting of equal males and females (Table 2). All the kids were maintained on common feeding regime of homemade concentrate mixture, available greens and chaffed sorghum straw as per their requirements (ICAR, 1997). Daily temperature and humidity within six houses were measured by Digital thermo-hygrometer instrument. The observations were taken at 9.00 am and at 3.00 pm. Weekly body weights of the kids were recorded for 34 weeks. Kids were watered twice daily during July, August, September, October and thrice daily during March, April, May, June. The treatment-wise data on body weight and growth rate were subjected to analysis of variance of CRD (Snedecor and Cochran, 1982). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The data on the mean gains in body weight recorded during 34 weeks period, were subjected to CRD and the results are presented in Table 3. Table 3 describes the mean values for total gains in body weight of the kids under,,,, and as 11.35, 10.30, 12.30, 11.37, and kg, respectively and results indicate highly significant (P < 0.01) differences among these treatments means. The kids kept under (one floor ventilator with thatched roof) and (two floor ventilators with thatched roof) showed superior growth to those under rest of the treatments. The values of total gains under (no ventilation with thatched roof), (one floor ventilator with tin sheet) are comparable with each other but significantly higher than those recorded in (no floor ventilation and tin sheet-roof). From the results, it could be inferred that for obtaining higher live-weight gains of the growing kid at 3 months age provision of proper floor ventilation and good organic insulator as the roofing material proved superior. This could vividly be seen from the results with kids under and. When both these facilities were withheld ( ), significantly lower body weight gains were obtained as compared with the rest of the floor ventilation and roof combinations. Irrespective of floor ventilation, provision of tin roof, recorded significantly (P < 0.01) lower gains than thatch roof. This might be due to higher micro-temperature recorded in tin shed which might have resulted absorption of more solar heat than thatched roof. The thatch roofing kept the kids cool and comfortable. Providing tin or concrete roof causes more environmental stress, less comfort and reduced growth. While working on Alpine X Beetal crossbred kids, Bhakat and Nagpaul (2005) recorded significantly superior gains in body weight throughout the year when roof was made up of thatching as compared to concrete roof. They further observed significantly (P < 0.01) higher gains in body weight of the kids reared under slotted raised floor than Kuccha floor. In the present investigation poor body weight gains

3 Vol. 41, No. 4, TABLE 2: Selection and distribution of kids to various treatments Group No. Body weight (kg) Sex Allotted to III 5.90 M 5.80 F 6.10 M 5.90 F Mean 5.92 II 5.80 F 6.20 M 5.30 F Mean 5.82 IV 6.50 M 5.40 F 5.00 F Mean 5.72 I 5.70 M 5.60 F 6.40 M 5.40 F Mean 5.77 VI 5.10 F 5.90 M 6.60 M 5.50 F Mean 5.77 V 5.70 F 4.90 M 6.80 F Mean 5.85 T 6 of the kids, kept in the house where no floor ventilation was provided, were recorded. Provision of simple thatch shed gave the benefit to the kids by reducing the physiological reactions and resulted in increasing the weight gain. Thomas et al. (1975) observed the weekly weight gain of 3.22 kg under tarpaulin-covered loose house as against 2.79 kg for simple loose house. Effect of ventilation and roof type on body weight The data on effect of providing floor ventilation or roof type separately on the gain in body weight were subjected to FRBD and the results are presented in Table 4. Values under sub-factor floor ventilation were: for V 0 (no floor ventilation), for V 1 (one floor ventilator) and kg under V 2 (two floor ventilators) and under sub factor roof type as for R 1 (thatched roof) and for R 2 (tin sheet roof). When provision of floor ventilation in the pens was considered, providing ventilation proved significantly superior (P < 0.01) for body weight gains as compared with no floor ventilation. However, no significant gain in live weight could be recorded by providing either one (V 1 ) or two (V 2 ) floor ventilators in the house. Provision of various roofs to the shed resulted in significant differences among the mean values of body weight gains. Covering the roof with a thatching material (R 1 ) proved beneficial and resulted significantly (P < 0.01) higher body weight gains over to tin roofing (R 2 ). Further, provision of floor ventilator aids in circulating

4 32 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH TABLE 3: Mean values (kg) of body weight gains of kids Treatment Mean body weight gain b c a b a b S.E CD at 1 % (Values superscripted differently differ significantly (P<0.01)) the air between outside atmosphere and pen and helps to keep the animals comfortable. No ventilation condition kept the floor wet, prevented proper air circulation and therefore kept the animal in uncomfortable status; this condition was more actuate during rainy season. Bhakat and Nagpaul (2005) also showed that the thatched roof shed is best suited for crossbred kids. Yousef et al. (1997) reported that cattle housed in concrete sheds had significantly lower daily gain than those housed in wooden roofed sheds. Arora et al. (1972) reported better average daily gain in Tharparkar calves housed on slatted and elevated floor with straw bedding than those on concrete floor without bedding during rainy season. Sastry et al. (1981) concluded that growing buffalo calves reared on brick-lined floor favoured better (grew by 7 % and 14 % faster) than calves reared on dirt floor. Similar trend was also recorded by Grewal et al. (1982) during winter season. Thomas and Sastry (2000) concluded that the roof should be a bad conductor of heat and free from tendency to condense moisture inside. Economics of housing Economics of construction of various goat pens studied in this investigation was worked out. The inputs required for the construction of each type of house, the lifespan of the material and the house constructed were considered. Similarly weightage was given for the time-period of the experiment and total out put in terms of mean TABLE 4: Mean values of gains in body weight (kg) Parameters Mean body weight gain (kg) Floor ventilation V b V a V a S.E CD at 1 % Roof type R a R b S.E CD at 1 % Vx R Interaction S.E CD at 5 % NS (Similar superscripts do not differ significantly from each other) total weight gain under each of the houses to calculate the cost required to gain one kg body live weight. All the values were thus calculated by considering the market prices prevailing during the year and the results are presented in Table 5. Table 5 describes (1) common cost of construction of all the six type of houses for 8 months experimental period of, 2) cost of inputs required as per the requirement of the treatment house i.e. cost of roof and cost of floor ventilation, 3) total body weight gain by the all the kids for 8 months period and 4) cost of raising the kids in terms of one kg body weight gain under various houses. The total cost was arrived at Rs for, for ; Rs for ; Rs for ; Rs for and Rs for. With due consideration to total body weight gain, the cost for one kg gain in body weight was highest (Rs. 9.41) in when house was constructed of tin roof with no ventilation; this was followed by where tin roof and two ventilation were provided. However, this trend has drastically been changed when roof was thatched and provided with either one or two ventilators. Thus Rs were required for 1 kg body weight gain for in a thatch roof provided with two ventilators, Rs for a thatched house ( ) having one ventilator and

5 Vol. 41, No. 4, TABLE 5: Economics of different housing pattern and growth performance of kids during experimental period Treat-ment Const-ruction Roofing cost Floor venti-lation Total cost Total body Cost/ kg of body Cost / kg gain Cost in terms Houses Cost (Rs) (Rs) Cost (Rs) (Rs) wt. gain (kg) wt. gain (Rs) over control (Rs) of perce-ntage Rs in a thatch roof where no ventilator was provided. Looking to the value of column No. 7 of the Table 5, one has to spend more when the houses were provided with tin roof and less with the thatch roof. Thus constructing house with tin increased the cost ranging from Rs to 0.97 but when the houses were provided with thatch and ventilators the cost reduced by Rs (minimum) to Rs (maximum). Expressing the cost for obtaining 1 kg body weight gain in term of per cent under control as Rs.100, the cost under was Rs , under Rs , under Rs and under Rs In other words, a goat pen of tin roof but without ventilation ( ) was expensive by per cent than a pen of thatch without ventilation ( ); that with tin roof as one ventilator ( ) by 1.89 per cent; that with tin and two ventilators by 2.37 per cent for each kg gain in body weight. However, goat pen with thatch roof with two floor ventilators ( ) was less expensive by 7.59 per cent recording negligible difference between and. It can, therefore, be inferred that thatch roofed house with floor ventilation is economical for the better comfort and growth of the kids. Above trend in cost structure observed in the present investigation relates to the houses which were constructed of brick walls and provided with steel. Still with cheaper material like raw bricks, wooden gates and paddock protected by thorny bushes, the cost to gain one kg live weight will still be reduced. It can therefore, be concluded that house with thatch roof but provided with suitable floor ventilation suits bests for higher growth performance. Gawali et al. (2004) reported lowest cost for thatch roofed and highest for GI sheet roofed fully closed houses, respectively. Similarly Bhakat and Nagpaul (2005) concluded that Kuccha floor with thatched roof shed had economic significance and also better for crossbred female kids as compared to concrete floor with concrete roof shed. REFERENCES Arora, S.P. et al (1972). Indian Vet. J., 49: 190. Bhakat, C. and Nagpaul, P.K. (2005). Indian J. Anim. Sci. 75 : Gawali, S.R. et al (2004). Indian Dairyman, 56 : Grewal, S.S. et al (1982). Indian J. Anim.. Sci. 52 : Gupta, V. K. et al (1985). Building Research Note No.37, CBRI, Roorkee. ICAR (1997). Handbook of Animal Husbandry, 2 nd edn., ICAR New Delhi, pp:311. Sastry, N.S.R. et al (1981). H.A.U. J. Res., 11 : Snedecor, G.W. and Cochran W.G. (1982). Statistical Methods 7 th Edn. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co. Calcutta. Thomas, C.K. et al (1975) Indian J Anim Sci 45: Thomas, C.K. and Sastry, N.S.R. (2000). Dairy Bovine Production 1 st Edn. Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi. Yousef, H.M. et al (1997). Egyptian J. Anim. Prod., 34 :