Biofuel co-products as livestock feed - Opportunities and challenges

Use of Pongamia glabra (karanj) and Azadirachta indica (neem) seed cakes for feeding livestock 393untreated NSC was not suitable even for maintenance ofanimals. Adverse effects on protein utilization were alsorecorded in buffalo calves (Arora, Singhal and Ludri, 1975)when fed concentrate mixtures containing 50 or 27 percentNSC. The neem derivative nimbin did not adversely affectmicrobial protein synthesis in buffalo calves fed on rationscontaining 20 percent NSC, although nutrient intake andgrowth were significantly reduced (Ludri and Arora, 1977).Impaired protein metabolism, as indicated by presence ofalbumin and bile salts in the urine, was recorded in cattlereceiving 10 and 20 percent NSC in the concentrate mixture(Anon., 1977-78).Pyne, Moitra and Gangopadhyar (1979) noted nochange in milk composition and general health of lactatingbuffaloes fed on 10, 15 or 20 percent NSC-supplementedconcentrate mixture for a period of 60 days. However,RBC, WBC and haemoglobin levels were higher and serumprotein was lower in experimental animals than controls.In view of the unaltered serum glutamate oxaloacetatetransaminase and serum glutamate pyruvate transaminaseactivities and blood calcium and phosphorus levels,Gangopadhyay et al. (1981) suggested it was safe toincorporate NSC at up to 20 percent of the concentratemixture for lactating buffaloes. Later, NSKC, a neem seedby-product rich in protein but low in crude fibre contentin comparison with NSC, was tried by Rajagopal and Nath(1981). They observed significant (P