Vol. 9, Special Issue 3 (2024)

Author(s): Shalinee GV, George SK, Ally K, Shyama K, Purushothaman S and Bindu KA

Abstract: An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding dairy based starter rations on body biometrics of Malabari goat kids. Eighteen Malabari kids of fourteen days old were selected and randomly assigned to three treatment groups (T₁, T₂, T₃). Milk was offered upto 90 days of age for T₁ and upto 45 days of age for both T₂ and T₃. Kid starter and green fodder was offered for all the kids. Kids in T₁ were fed with conventional starter ration whereas, dairy based starter rations containing dried whey powder and skimmed milk powder (SMP) were offered for kids in T₂ (15% whey & 5% SMP) and T₃ (10% whey & 10% SMP). The experimental kids were reared upto 120 days of age. Body biometrics of kids viz. height at withers, body length, heart girth, hip width, face length and tail length were recorded at fortnightly intervals. At 120 days of age, the mean value (cm) of wither height was 47.33, 48.83 and 48.08, body length was 45.17, 45.83 and 45.83, heart girth was 43.50, 45.00 and 44.83, hip width was 44.33, 45.83 and 45.92, face length was 15.17, 15.58 and 15.83 and tail length was 13.92, 13.67 and 14.17 in T₁, T₂ and T₃ groups, respectively. The results revealed similar (p>0.05) body measurements in Malabari kids offered with different starter rations. Hence, it can be concluded that the stopping milk feeding at an early age (45 days of age) by providing dairy based starter rations has no adverse effects on body biometrics and may improve the farm economy as it spares dams milk for human consumption.