National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS)
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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Present study was done to examine the seasonal effects of different housing conditions on the performance of crossbred cattle calves (Karan Fries). Thirty healthy female calves of age between 5 and 6 months were selected and divided into five groups (six animals per group) and reared under different housing conditions for a period of 7 months. First group was reared under the scientifically designed calf shade at Livestock Research Centre at National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal (control) and the remaining four groups were reared under different housing conditions identified based on their microenvironment from the nearby village Arinpura, District Karnal. Those were as follows Test Group I - the housing with walls and roof made up of brick and mortar, Test Group II – the housing with walls and roof made up of hatch and mud, Test Group III the housing with brick walls and asbestos roofing, Test Group IV – was simply reared under the tree. The influence of the housing microenvironment on the growth and various other physiological, haematological and endocrinal parameters was studied. The parameters like respiratory rate (RR), skin temperature (ST), white blood count (WBC), red blood cell count (RBC), haemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), growth hormone (GH), cortisol, triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxin (T4) were found to be significantly affected by the housing condition provided. Though the feed intake and average daily weight gain of experimental calves was found to be increased with advance of age among all the housing systems, the feed intake and avg. daily weight gain among the calves under different housing systems was found to be significantly affected by seasonal variations. No much variation observed in the pulse rate (PR) and rectal temperature (RT) among the groups.
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