Authors : C. Pandiyan, K. Senthilvel, R. Saravanan and V. Chandirasekaran
Abstract: About 1 week old Mecheri lambs having average weight of 2.2 kg were selected and divided into three groups such as control, fed exclusively with ewe’s milk, treatment 2, fed with 50% of soya milk and 50% of ewe’s milk and treatment 3, fed with 75% soya milk and 25% ewe’s milk. All the lambs were fed with 10% of their body weight. The control group had a mean body weight (kg) of 3.43, 6.34 and 8.57 at 30, 60 and 90 days of age, respectively. The T2 group had a body weight (kg) of 3.69, 6.34 and 9.99 at 30, 60 and 90 days of age, respectively. The T3 group had a body weight (kg) of 3.74, 6.89 and 10.33 at 30, 60 and 90 days of age, respectively. The growth performance of the treatment groups T2 and T3 were significantly higher than the control group (p<0.01). The higher weight gain was observed in the T3 as compared to T2, this might be due to higher protein, total solids content of the respective soya milk and ewe’s milk blends fed. This investigation reveals that the feeding of soya milk and ewe’s milk blend will be beneficial for feeding orphan lambs.
C. Pandiyan, K. Senthilvel, R. Saravanan and V. Chandirasekaran, 2012. Effect of Soya Milk and Ewe’s Milk Blend on the Growth Performance of Suckling Mecheri Lambs. Journal of Food Technology, 10: 1-3.