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Background: Maize (Zea mays) grain sprouts (MGS) can be a potential source of green fodder for ruminants, especially when there is scarcity of land and water. Nutritional value of MGS grown with hydroponic technique was assessed for nutrient utilization, blood biochemical profile, immunity and growth performance in lambs. Methods: The MGS were produced in a polyhouse and harvested on 10th day and subjected to rumen in vitro incubation for gas production (RIVIGP) test to predict metabolisable energy (ME) value. The feeding cum growth trial was conducted for 120 days. Eighteen healthy male lambs of 3-4 months age and comparable body weight were randomly allotted in a complete randomized design to three dietary groups of six in each. The control (T1) group lambs were fed conventional green fodder (CGF), finger millet straw (FMS) and compounded feed mixture (CFM) at 50:10:40 ratio on DM basis, In treatment group two (T2), proportion of CGF and CFM was reduced by 50% and substituted with 45% MGS on DM basis (CGF, FMS, CFM and MGS on total DM basis was in 25:10:20:45 ratio, respectively). In treatment group three (T3), CGF was completely replaced with MGS (80%) and CFM was reduced to 25% of control (CGF, FMS, CFM and MGS on total DM basis was in 0:10:10:80 ratio, respectively). Result: Results indicated that MGS has ME (MJ/kg DM) of 9.70. The average DM intake (g/d/lamb) in T1, T2 and T3 groups was 764, 581 and 398, respectively. The average daily gain (ADG, g) in T1, T2 and T3 groups was 77.3, 48.5 and 20.9, respectively. There was a significant (P less than 0.05) decrease in DMI and ADG with reduced feed efficiency in lambs fed MGS. However, the per cent digestibility of nutrients, blood biochemical profile, immunity and serum minerals in lambs did not differ among the groups. It is concluded that replacement of compounded feed mixture or conventional green fodder with MGS will limit the dry matter intake, net nutrient availability and negatively affect the growth performance in lambs.

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) 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.