Abstract
An experiment was conducted to study the nutritional value of jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) residue silage in terms of chemical composition, and nutrient utilization in lambs fed a straw-based diet. Eighteen Mandya lambs of about 3 to 6 months of age with average BW of 9.55 +/- 0.31 kg were divided into three groups of six each in a completely randomized design. The first group of lambs were fed on finger millet straw as the sole source of roughage and compounded feed mixture and served as a control (CON), while the second (JRS-25) and third (JRS-50) group lambs were fed with jackfruit residue silage (JRS) to replace 25 and 50%, respectively, of the finger millet straw. The feeding trial was continued for 82 d and a digestion trial of 6 d was carried out at 8th week of the experiment. The chemical analyses revealed that JRS had higher CP (8.77 vs. 3.35%) and EE (1.91 vs. 0.79%) and lower total ash (6.46 vs. 8.51%), NDF (34.08 vs. 71.84%), ADF (27.88 vs. 46.46%) and ADL (1.06 vs. 3.83%) contents as compared to the finger millet straw. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference in total DM intake among the dietary groups. The ADG was found significantly (P<0.05) higher in JRS-50 in comparison to the CON (98.17 vs. 81.09 g) group of lambs. However, the FCR was statistically comparable (P>0.05) among the three groups. The mean apparent digestibility of nutrients also did not vary among the groups. From the study, it can be deduced that jackfruit residue silage has the potential to be included in the diet of growing lambs by replacing up to 50% of finger millet straw.