Biological treatment of crop residues for ruminant feeding: A review

Crop residues are often referred to as ‘lignocellulosics’ as they are rich in cellulose which is bound with a biopolymer lignin. Rumen microbiota (bacteria, protozoa and fungi), even with their hydrolytic enzymes, are not very competent enough to break these bonds efficiently. Biological treatment of such crop residues using white rot fungi (WRF) can break the ligno-cellulose complexes, liberating free cellulose and thus enhancing their feeding value for ruminants. Biologically treated roughages have higher digestibility for most of the nutrients (both cell walls and cell solubles) with an increase in crude protein content as compared to untreated material, besides ensuring more fermentable substrates in the rumen. Further, recent studies have indicated low methane emission from feedstuffs subjected to solid state fermentation (SSF) with ligninolytic fungi as a result of their improved digestion and nutrient assimilation. This review primarily deals with the nature and composition of crop residues, their inherent nutritive constraints as ruminant feed and to overcome the same by means of biological treatments. The progresses to date in in vitro and in vivo studies on biologically treated lignocellulosics have also been reviewed.Keywords: Crop residues, ligninolytic fungi, ruminant, digestibility, methaneAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(27), pp. 4221-423

Policy Perspective for Grassland Based Integrated Farming System: Innovation & Challenges in Indian Context

Indian agriculture is increasingly getting influenced more and more by economic factors. This needs not be surprising because irrigation expansion, infrastructure development, penetration of rural markets, development and spread of short duration and drought resistant crop technologies have all contributed to minimizing the role of non-economic factors in crop choice for even small farmers. Both at micro and macro level, the picture of livestock sector is very much disintegrated where growth is mainly from fishery and meat production and not from milk production. The common perception that animal rearing is not as remunerative as poultry or fishery seems to be a metaphor if not in true sense, as animals or livestock are not as sensitive to concentrate feed like poultry or fishery. One can directly measure the output in poultry and fishery in terms of growth due to concentrate feeding in a short time frame while in livestock , the effect is not only subtle but also depends on a myriad of other factors like breed, management and the like. In light of these drawbacks the effort for the growth of livestock sector is imperative for long term sustainable growth of agriculture sector as a whole. It is more a misnomer than reality that the increase in concentrate in feed for livestock will increase its milk and associated yields. On the flip side to get optimum yield from our animals they should be provided with a balanced feed consisting of dry fodder, green fodder and concentrate containing right proportions of vitamins and minerals. With the increase in the proportion of animal products in the consumption basket in relation to plant product driven by changing food habit, income, consciousness towards animal protein there is more prevalence of intensive animal rearing in farming system mode. In Indian scenario pasture feeding is not new but the glitch is in the practices adopted to maintain this pasture. Use of new technologies to improve old pasture lands should be given priority. One of the beneficial effects of allocating the degraded land to forage and pasture domain, is its development. The fertility status of marginal lands will be upgraded with the production of legumes by the nitrogen fixation process. Moreover silvipastoral system can also be incorporated. Fodder and forage should be the basis for cattle food security and further concentrate should be used to provide balanced ration to livestock for their optimum performance. A fixed rangeland comprising of marginal land, degraded land, problem soils has the capacity to sustain a specific number of animals which is optimum for that area. Common property resources can be best identified as pastures but at the same time community should also has to take care of its quality. With enhanced consumerism in rural areas, farmers’ requirements for cash have also increased to improve their standard of living. The previously inferior cereals like jowar, bajra, ragi which are meant for animal consumption are now upgraded for human consumption due to increased awareness of their nutritional potential and other health benefits. So with time, a new trade off is emerging between animal and human consumption of these cereals especially maize, jowar, bajra, etc. This is especially true in case of small and marginal farmers. Therefore, farmers’ income and food requirements would have to be augmented and supplemented by adoption of efficient secondary/tertiary enterprises like animal husbandry, horticulture (vegetables/fruits/flowers/medicinal and aromatic plants), apiary, mushroom cultivation, fisheries etc. However, these integrated farming systems will be required to be tailor-made and designed in such a manner that they lead to substantial improvement in energy efficiencies at the farm and help in maximum exploitation of synergies. Since, technological challenges are becoming more complex than before as demand for food is increasing, land holding size is decreasing and natural resource base is shrinking and/or deteriorating. For this, a change in mindset towards farming systems research is needed. The prevailing farming situation in India calls for an integrated effort to address the emerging issues/problems

Xanthine oxidase activity during transition period and its association with occurrence of postpartum infections in Murrah buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

The aim of this study was to quantify xanthine oxidase (XO) levels during the transition period in Murrah buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and determine its association with certain postpartum infections. For this, six healthy buffaloes were selected from the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) herd and managed under standard managemental practices as followed at the institute. Blood samples were drawn weekly from each buffalo from day -21 to +21 relative to parturition by jugular vein puncture. Additional blood samples were collected from buffaloes suffering from metritis (n=5), endometritis (n=6) and mastitis (n=8) on alternate days. XO activity followed a defined pattern with values gradually declining from day -21 up to the day of calving followed by an increase to day +21, but the difference was statistically not significant between pre- and post-partum stages. The activity significantly declined on the day of calving when compared to the pre-partum mean value (p<0.05). The activity was significantly enhanced in buffaloes with bacterial infections, endometritis, and mastitis compared to healthy controls (p<0.05). However, the levels were not significantly altered among buffalo with metritis. The results indicate that increased XO activity during the postpartum period was associated with some bacterial infections in buffaloes, which could be due to increased phagocytic activity as a part of the innate defense system.Keywords: Xanthine oxidase, transition periodAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(32), pp. 5101-510

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Impact of <i>Moringa oleifera</i> Leaves on Nutrient Utilization, Enteric Methane Emissions, and Performance of Goat Kids

The development of different innovative feed resources for livestock is important to provide the essential nutrients and diminish the emission of greenhouse gases. The purpose of the present experiment was to study the response of replacing concentrate with Moringa oleifera leaves in terms of the nutrient intake, digestibility, enteric methane emissions, and performance of goat kids with a berseem-fodder-based diet under different roughage (R)-to-concentrate (C) ratios. Twenty-four goat kids (3 months of age) were distributed into four groups of six animals each, using a randomized block design (RBD). Kids of Group I (control) were fed a basal diet with 70R:30C without any tree leaf supplementation. Group II kids were fed with 60R:40C, where 10% of the concentrate mix was replaced with Moringa leaf (ML powder). In Group III, kids were fed with 70R:30C with 20% ML replacement. In Group IV, kids were fed with 80R:20C with 20% ML replacement. A metabolic trial was conducted after 180 days of feeding to assess the impact of ML on blood metabolites, antioxidant status, immunity parameters, and enteric methane emissions. The results revealed that dry matter digestibility, organic matter, and NDF were better (p p p Moringa oleifera leaf may be used up to the level of 10–20% in concentrate mixes to improve digestibility, blood biochemical parameters, immunity status, and antioxidant activity in goat kids. Supplementation of ML not only enhanced the digestion and health of goat kids, but also decreased their methane emissions

Growth performance, and enteric and manure greenhouse gas emissions from Murrah calves fed diets with different forage to concentrate ratios

The present study investigated the effects of different dietary forage to concentrate ratios on animal performance, and enteric and manure greenhouse gas emissions in growing calves. Fifteen male Murrah calves (153.5 ± 18.17 kg; 6 to 12 months) were randomly assigned to 3 dietary treatments and fed corn fodder, wheat straw and concentrate in 3 different proportions: 20:60:20 (C20); 20:40:40 (C40) and 10:30:60 (C60), for a period of 120 days. Increasing dietary concentrate proportion had no significant (P > 0.05) effect on dry matter intake (DMI) but increased crude protein (CP) and total digestible nutrient intake (P  0.05). The apparent digestibility of dry matter, organic matter and CP were higher (P  0.05). Daily methane (CH4) emission (g/d), CH4 energy loss (MJ/d) and CH4 yield (CH4 g/kg organic matter intake [OMI], CH4 g/kg digestible OMI, and CH4 % of metabolizable energy intake) were significantly higher for C20 compared with C60 (P  0.05). Manure CH4 (g/kg DMI) and nitrous oxide (N2O mg/kg nitrogen) emissions were not affected (P > 0.05), but N2O emission on mg/kg DM basis was significantly higher (P < 0.05) from the manure of calves fed C60 than that for C20. Thus, increasing dietary concentrate proportion improved animal performance, and reduced enteric CH4 emission (g/day) without any significant effect on manure N2O (mg/kg nitrogen) and CH4 emissions. Keywords: Concentrate proportion, Growth, Digestibility, Manure, Methane, Nitrous oxid

Greenhouse gas inventory estimates for India

This article reports the greenhouse gas emissions of anthropogenic origin by sources and removals by sinks of India for 2007 prepared under the aegis of the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) (note 1). The emission profile includes carbon dioxide (CO(2)), methane and nitrous oxide. It also includes the estimates of hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride at the national level from various sectors, viz, energy, industrial process and product use, agriculture, land-use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF), and waste. In 2007, emissions were of the order of 2008.67 Tg (note 2) of CO(2) equivalents without emissions from the LULUCF sector. Whereas with LULUCF the emissions were about 1831.65 Tg CO(2) equivalents. The energy sector accounted for 69% of the total emissions, the agriculture sector contributed 19% of the emissions, 9% of the emissions was from the industrial processes and product use, and only 3% of the emissions was attributable to the waste sector. The LULUCF sector on the whole was net sink category for CO(2). The study tracks the improvements made in inventory estimates at the national level through the years, in terms of the expanding coverage of sources, reducing uncertainties and inclusion of new methodologies, including some elements of future areas of work