Response of fodder moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) to levels of irrigation and planting density and effect of its leaf meal on the small ruminants in arid regions of India

Ram Narayan Kumawat; Nitin V Patil; Asutosh K Patel; Kajal  Arora

doi:10.56093/ijas.v96i10.171903

Authors

Ram Narayan Kumawat
Nitin V Patil
Asutosh K Patel
Kajal Arora

https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v96i10.171903

Keywords:

Body weight, Does, Irrigation level, Leaf proportion, Milk yield, Moringa leaf meal, Planting density, Proximate composition, Yield

Abstract

The present study was conducted on Moringa oleifera (moringa) with four levels of irrigation and planting density as an agronomic study and also studied the effect of moringa leaf meal (MLM) based diet fed in lactating does as an animal trial to ascertain best agronomic intervention and level of MLM supplementation in the does. The fresh and dry yields were inversely related with the levels of irrigation. The deficit levels in general recorded higher biomass yields. The fresh biomass, leaf and stem yields of 126, 39 and 88 t/ha were recorded with 40% CPE and these yields were 19.80, 21.19 and 19.17% higher than the respective yields recorded with 100% CPE. The effect of planting density was more on the fresh and dry biomass. The highly dense plants (40000/ha) recorded significantly the highest fresh and dry biomass yields of 188.03 and 34.25 t/ha which were 212 and 198 per cent higher than the widely spaced plants (6666/ha). In feeding trial the growth and milk yield of lactating does was affected with the inclusion of moringa leaf meal @ 10% and 15% of total ration. The average bodyweight gain (ABG) was recorded 0.56 and 0.60 g/day with the inclusion of MLM @ 15 (T2) and 25% (T3) compared to control (0.40 g/day). The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was found to be significantly higher in control (T1) (3.70) relative to parallel values between T2 (15% MLM) and T3 (25% MLM) groups. The daily milk yield during initial to final phase of lactation in T1 group was reduced from 418.5 ml/day recorded during first fortnight to 211.7 ml/day recorded during the 11th fortnight periods and this reduction was 49% of the initial milk yield whereas in T2 group such reduction was only 14% (428.3 ml to 367.6 ml/day). However, the T3 group recorded drop of only12.4 % in the milk yield of does during the reported period in comparison to T1 and T2 groups from the peak milk yield.

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Author Biography

Ram Narayan Kumawat

Division of Livestock Production & Range Management

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