COMPARATIVE EFFICIENCY OF SUNFLOWER MEAL AND COTTONSEED CAKES IN THE FEED OF CROSSBRED CALVES FOR MEAT PRODUCTION

Thirty crossbred (Sahiwal x Friesian) male calves of 9-10 months age and weighing 70 to 90 kg, were used in completely randomized design to investigate the possibility of replacing cottonseed cakes (CSC) with sunflower meal (SFM), partially or completely, in rations for fattening of crossbred calves for meat production. Three concentrate rations viz. A, B and C were formulated. Ration A containing CSC was fed to the calves of group A, ration B containing SFM was fed to calves of group B and ration C containing both CSC + SFM was fed to calves of group C. The feed intake of calves belonging to group C was the highest (5.7 ± 2.3 kg) followed by group B (5.5 ± 1.3 kg) and group A (5.2 ± 2.0 kg). Average daily body weight gain was 0.73 ± 0.1, 0.72 ± 0.2 and 0.71 ± 0.1 kg for groups A, B and C, respectively. Calves fed SFM gained numerically less than the calves fed CSC but higher than SFM+ CSC. Feed conversion ratio was 7.1 ± 0.4, 7.7 ± 0.7 and 8.0 ± 0.6, for calves of groups A, B and C, respectively. Dressing percentage averaged 51.5 ± 1.3, 52.1 ± 1.2 and 52.3 ± 0.8 for the respective rations. However, the differences in feed intake, daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio and dressing percentages among calves of three groups were non significant. Considering the cost of feed and average growth, the cost of per kg body weight gain was 38, 30 and 37 rupees for the groups A, B and C, respectively. The lowest cost was observed in SFM based ration (B) that was about 19% less than ration containing CSC. Results indicated that for fattening of crossbred calves the use of SFM is as efficient as CSC but more economical and can successfully replace CSC in fattening rations.