Animal Nutrition

Identification, nutritional evaluation and preservation of locally available feeds and fodders, and determination of nutrient requirements and feed efficiency of mithun are the central areas of research. Barring a few, most of the forages, that were analyzed for their nutrient contents, can serve as good sources of protein and energy for mithun and contained phenolic compounds within the limit. Assessing the macro as well as micro-mineral contents of soil, feeds and fodders as well as in the serum of mithun, an area-specific mineral mixture, entitled with the trademark ‘μthimin’, was developed. Determining the protein requirement of growing mithun calves, it is suggested that male growing mithun calves can be reared on 80% crude protein requirement of NRC (1989) recommendations meant for growing dairy cattle. The studies on growth rate and feed efficiency are in progress. Recently much emphasis is being given to preserving the feeds and fodders as well as to exploiting the locally available agro-industrial by-products like spent grain from breweries industries and wet cake and dried distillery grains and soluble (DDGS), in the form of feed blocks. This will help in feeding mithun during the scarcity period and economization of mithun rearing systems, especially the intensive and semi-intensive rearing.

Following are the achievements

• Standardization of drying and block making techniques using locally available feed ingredients including agro-industrial byproducts

• Storage of wet cake in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) drums
• Drying of wet cake in poly-house

• Preparation of pellets using wet cake as an ingredient without binder

Significant achievements of Animal Nutrition

·  More than 200 locally available feed resources have been identified from different mithun grazing areas and evaluated for nutritional quality

·  Propagation techniques for important locally available fodder plants have been standardized

·  Biomass production and seasonal variations in macro and micronutrient contents of important locally available fodders have been established

·  Voluntary feed intake and nutrient utilization in mithun fed on locally available tree leaves based on total mixed ration has been investigated

·  Nutritive value and nutrient utilization of Thumero tree leaves in mithun have been established

·  Comparative nutritional evaluation of different tree lopping and concentrate based total mixed ration has been done in mithun

·  Effect of different fodder and concentrate based total mixed rations on nutrient utilization and growth performances in mithun calves have been evaluated

·  In Sacco degradability of forest-based foliages available in Nagaland has been studied in mithun

·  Effect of feeding tree leaves based on total mixed ration on nutrient utilization, growth performances and rumen fermentation patterns in mithun has been investigated

·  Nutrient utilization and nitrogen balance in adult mithun fed on urea treated rice straw and concentrate based feed blocks in mithun has been investigated

·  Economics of feed block feeding system in mithun has been carried out

·  The effect of feeding Lagerstroemia speciosa and conventional fodder based ration on nutrient utilization and body weight gain has been investigated

·  Variations in the concentration of ruminal pH, total volatile fatty acid (VFA), ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen and different VFA fractions on feeding tree leaves and conventional fodders have been established

·  Important digestive enzymes in mithun rumen fluid have been estimated

·  The contents of different macro and micro-minerals in important locally available fodders have been estimated

·  Effect of feeding bakers yeast on performance of mithun on roughages based diet has been investigated