Abstract
An experiment was conducted for 90 days using 9 growing bull calves (initial LW 71.5 kg) to investigate the effect of replacing til oil cake by poultry excreta on growth performance and nutrient utilization. The animals were randomly divided into three groups. The control group A was fed with conventional concentrate mixture containing til oil cake, rice bran, wheat bran, bone meal and common salt and the groups B and C were offered diets in which 50 and 100 percent of til oil cake of diet A were replaced by dried poultry excreta. All the animals were fed urea soaked rice straw ad libitum and concentrate mixture was given at the rate of 10 g per kg LW. Towards the end of growth trial a conventional digestibility trial was conducted. Average daily live weight gain was 216, 211 and 188 g for animals fed diets A, B and C, respectively. Average daily dry matter intake in groups A, B and C was 3.42, 3.37 and 3.30 kg per 100 kg LW, respectively. The daily live weight gain and dry matter intake did not differ significantly (p > 0.05) among the dietary groups. The digestibility coefficient for DM or NFE was almost similar but that for OM, CP, CF and EE was significantly different (p < 0.01) among the dietary groups. TDN percent in diets A, B and C was 57.3 53.3 and 50.8, respectively and the difference was significant (p < 0.01). Animals in all the groups were in a state of positive nitrogen balance. The results indicated that til oil cake can be replaced by dried poultry excreta in bull calf ration.