M. M. Das

Sewage water (SW) irrigation is widely used in developing countries, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, as a cost-effective method for crop production. However, it poses significant ecological and health risks owing to the presence of heavy metals (HMs), necessitating effective management strategies. This study assesses the impact of mixing SW with groundwater (GW) in various ratios (SW₀: 0%SW, SW₂₅: 25%SW, SW₅₀: 50%SW, SW₇₅: 75%SW, and SW₁₀₀: 100%SW) on fodder productivity, HMs accumulation, and associated risks to livestock in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Over three years, SW irrigation improved soil fertility and increased fodder yields by 6–25%. However, it led to elevated levels of HMs in the soil–fodder system. Among the crops studied, oat showed the lowest bioaccumulation compared to cowpea, maize, and berseem, with Pb levels exceeding permissible limits in the SW₁₀₀ treatment. Most tested crops exceeded WHO/FAO limits for HMs, except for Cr and Cd in the SW₂₅ treatment. Pollution index values categorized all crops as “severely” to “heavily polluted”, except for oat. Ecological risk indices were low for SW₀ to SW₅₀, with Cd presenting the highest ecological risk (38–69%). The transfer factor (TF) for Cr, Ni, and Cd was 1, signaling health risks to immune function, productivity, and reproductive performance in livestock consuming SW-irrigated fodder. A blend of lesser metal-accumulating fodder crops and a 1:3 SW: GW dilution ratio can effectively minimize these risks. Our findings provide baseline information to policymakers, environmentalists, and livestock keepers for formulating strategic mitigation plans to minimize the potential future risks of HMs pollution in the soil-fodder-livestock continuum.

Berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum) hay meal (BHM) as a replacement for mustard cake (MSC) in the ration of growing Jalauni lambs was studied. About 15 Jalauni male lambs (23.25 ± 1.2 kg) were randomly distributed into three groups of five each in an experiment based on a randomized block design and were randomly assigned to one of the three dietary treatments. The animals were fed control concentrate mixture (GI) or concentrate mixtures in which 60% N of mustard cake was replaced with BHM containing 0.75% NPN (GII) or 1.0% NPN (GIII) making them iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric. Gram straw (GS) was offered ad libitum to all the animals. Total dry matter intake (DMI) was comparable among the groups. Digestibility of nutrients, namely DM, organic matter (OM), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) were non-significantly different among the groups. However, crude protein (CP) digestibility was higher in GI or GII than GIII. Rumen fermentation was not affected due to the incorporation of BHM as a replacer of mustard cake in the diet. N balance was also comparable. However, N retention as % of N absorbed was significantly (p <0.05) lower in GIII as compared to GI or GII. Nutrient content in terms of TDN or ME was similar among the experimental diets. However, DCP% was higher in GI or GII than GIII. Cost per kg live weight gain was significantly (p <0.05) lower in BHM-incorporated diets (GII or GIII) than in the control diet (GI). It was concluded that BHM can be incorporated into the diet of growing Jalauni lambs as a replacer of mustard cake for economical livestock production.

Background Maize is an excellent fodder crop due to its high biomass, better palatability, succulency, and nutrition. Studies on morpho-physiological and biochemical characterization of fodder maize are limited. The present study aimed to explore the genetic variation in fodder maize landraces for various morpho-physiological traits and estimation of genetic relationship and population structure. Methods and results The study on 47 fodder maize landraces revealed significant variation for all morpho-physiological traits except leaf-stem ratio. Plant height, stem girth, leaf-width and number of leaves showed positive correlation with green fodder yield. Morpho-physiological traits-based clustering grouped the landraces into three major clusters, whereas neighbour joining cluster and population structure analysis using 40 SSR markers revealed four and five major groups, respectively. Most landraces of Northern Himalaya-Kashmir and Ludhiana fall into a single group, whereas rest groups mainly had landraces from North-Eastern Himalaya. A total of 101 alleles were generated with mean polymorphic information content value of 0.36 and major allele frequency of 0.68. The pair wise genetic dissimilarity between genotypes ranged from 0.21 to 0.67. Mantel test revealed weak but significant correlation between morphological and molecular distance. Biochemical characterisation of superior landraces revealed significant variation for neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent fibre, cellulose and lignin content. Conclusion Interestingly, significant, and positive correlation of SPAD with lignin content can be explored to bypass the costly affair of invitro quality assessment for digestibility parameters. The study identified superior landraces and demonstrated the use of molecular markers in genetic diversity assessment and grouping of genotypes for fodder maize improvement.

The replacement effect of mustard cake protein with berseem hay meal protein in concentrate mixture was studied for nutrient utilization, milk yield and economics of production in crossbred cows. In control group (G1), the animals were fed control concentrate mixture with wheat straw ad libitum whereas in treated group (G2), 60% N of mustard cake was replaced with berseem hay meal (BHM) in the concentrate mixtures along with wheat straw ad libitum for a period of two and half months. Both the groups were provided iso-energetic and iso- nitrogeneous diets. The intake of dry matter either as percentage of body weight or per kg metabolic body size was comparable between the groups. Similarly, the digestibility of nutrients viz.DM, OM, NDF and ADF were similar in both the groups. Milk yield (7.02 Vs 7.21 kg/d) and composition of milk of animals fed with or without supplementation of BHM was also non-significantly different indicating that legumes did not change the composition of milk. Feed conversion efficiency for milk production and N utilization efficiency was also similar between the groups. Average daily feeding cost and cost of milk production(Rs/kg 4%FCM) reduced (P<0.05) by 13.89 and 17.53%, respectively in cows fed experimental diet, hence net daily income was increased (P<0.05) by Rs. 26.71 per cow. It was concluded that mustard cake can safely be replaced by berseem hay meal (BHM) in iso-caloric and isonitrogeneous diet in formulating least cost ration for economic milk production in small holders’ dairy production without any adverse impact on crossbred cows.

Straw grain ratio (S/G ratio) of paddy cultivars available across the country in different states was determined. Variation in straw quality was also estimated. Sampling locations were from farmers field spread over 9 major paddy producing states viz., Bihar, Chhatishgarh, Gujrat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and West Bengal. A significant variation (Pviz., CP, NDF, ADF, hemicelluloses, cellulose and lignin content was recorded among the paddy cultivars. Among the various chemical constituents, the lignin content varied greatly (126%) followed by CP(76.15%), hemicelluloses(72.34%), cellulose (37.67%), ADF (25.39%), and NDF (15.48%). The DM degradability of straw from different paddy cultivars ranged from 35 to 64.4%, whereas, NDF digestibility varied from 63.52 to 80.74%. NBDMD was negatively correlated with ADF and lignin content of straw. It can be concluded that the variability in nutritional parameters among varieties/cultivars need to be exploited by plant breeders, particularly in paddy growing areas where paddy straw is a major roughage source for ruminant diet.

Twelve Jalauni male sheep (Av. body weight 34.6 kg, around 2–2.4 yr) were randomly assigned into two groups of six animals each. Animals in group G₁were fed sorghum silage ad lib. whereas the animals in group G₂ were fed fodder sugarcane silage ad lib. Both the groups were provided 400 g of concentrate mixture daily. After adaptation period of 30 days, a 6 day metabolism trial was conducted. Before starting the metabolism trial, the rumen liquor samples were collected before feeding from each animal for two consecutive days through stomach tube. The chemical and biochemical characteristics like CP (6.44 and 6.17%), NDF (72.36 and 75.73%), pH (3.85 and. 4.15) and lactic acid (3.78 and 3.56%) contents were comparable between sorghum and fodder sugarcane silage. DM intake (kg/100 kg BW or g/kg W^0.75) was also similar between the groups. Digestibility coefficients (%) of DM, CP and NDF were similar in groups G₁ and G₂, however, OM digestibility was higher (P2 than G₁. DCP intake (g/d) was similar in the animals fed either sorghum silage based diet or sugarcane fodder silage based diet. DCP intake was sufficient to support gain of 50 g/d whereas TDN intake in both the groups was sufficient to gain 125 g/d. N balance (g/d) was also similar in both the groups. Rumen microbial population like total protozoa (73.66 vs. 66.33 ×10⁴/mL) and fungal count (5.57 vs. 3.27 ×10⁴/mL) were similar in both the groups. Therefore, it could be concluded that fodder sugarcane can be used as an alternate source of fodder for making good quality silage for sheep without affecting nutrient intake and utilization.

Eighteen Jalauni lambs (n=18, average BW 22.43 kg) of similar sex and age were divided in to three groups of 6 animals each to study the effect of azolla meal as a replacer for mustard cake protein on nutrient intake and utilization. In control group (T₁), the animals were fed ad lib. green chaff of MP chari (a variety of Sorghum bicolor) with concentrate mixture as per requirement (ICAR, 1998) whereas in groups T₂ and T₃ the CP of mustard cake was replaced @ 25% and 50% with azolla meal protein in the concentrate mixtures C1 and C2 respectively. Average DMI was 3.90, 3.77 and 3.49% of the live BW in groups T₁, T₂ and T ₃, respectively. Digestibility of DM and OM was comparable in T₁ (61.43 and 64.98%) and T₂ (59.91 and 62.97%), however, it was higher (P3 (51.57 and 56.51%). The CP digestibility reduced (P2 and T ₃. Although N intake was similar in three experimental groups, the excretion of N through faeces was higher (P3. N retention as % of N intake was comparable in groups T₁ and T₂ but was higher than that in group T₃. It could be concluded that azolla meal could replace mustard oil cake up to 25% on nitrogen equivalent basis without affecting nutrient utilization in Jalauni lambs.