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| The present study was conducted to evaluate the impacts of dietary supplementation of chromium yeast alone and in combination with antioxidants on growth, feed conversion and nitrogen retention in broilers during winter season. A total of 180, Cob-400 straight run broiler chicks at one day-old, were randomly distributed into four equal groups replicated three times with 15 birds per replicate. The treatments consisted of 4 experimental groups as follows: T 0 , T 1 , T 2 and T 3 . Chicks were fed corn-soya based broiler mash (basal diet) maintained as control (T 0 ), the basal diet supplemented with chromium (Cr)at 0.5 mg Cr/kg diet from chromium yeast (T 1 ), the basal diet + 0.5 mg Cr /kg diet from chromium yeast + 250 mg of ascorbic acid /kg of diet (T 2 ), and the basal diet + 0.5 mg Cr /kg diet from chromium yeast + 250 mg vitamin E /kg of diet (T 3 ). Body weight and feed consumption were recorded to evaluate the growth performance and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Nitrogen retention was observed by conducting metabolic trial during 6 th week. The climatic data revealed that there were huge variations in house air temperatures within a day. In house relative humidity ranged from 29.01% to 44.21% during the experimental period. The average weight gains were numerically higher and FCR values were lower in supplemented groups particularly in T 2 group than T 0 group. The significantly higher (p< 0.05) nitrogen retention values were recorded in T 2 group followed by T 1 than T 0 group. It was concluded that Cr in combination with ascorbic acid yielded better results in terms of performance in broilers, thus suggesting some synergetic action of both Cr and ascorbic acid that need to investigate further with specially designed projects.

| Paddy and wheat generate multi-million tons of straw as residue. These two straws although similar in their nutrient content are quite different in microstructure and non-nutritive chemical composition. Present study scrutinized the effect of these straws when fed in combination as compared to fed as sole roughage on blood biochemical profile and serum enzymes. Eighteen non-descript local adult male goats were randomly divided into three equal groups as per randomized block design and were offered concentrate mixture @20g /kg metabolic body weight (W 0.75 ) along with either wheat straw (WS), paddy straw (PS) or wheat-paddy straw as 60:40 mix (WP) ad libitum. Feeding trial lasted for 30 days. The haemoglobin, total serum protein, albumin, blood urea nitrogen and serum enzymes (alanine transaminase and aspartate aminotransferase) were comparable among goats irrespective of the diets. It may be concluded that wheat and paddy straw can be used as sole roughage or in combination without effecting blood biochemical profile and serum enzymes of goats.

Twelve local adult male goats were randomly allotted to two equal groups and were kept on ad libitum wheat straw, supplemented with either conventional concentrate mixture (Control) or concentrate mixture containing walnut cake (10% w/w) (Treatment). Positive balances of calcium and phosphorus were observed in both groups without any significant (P>0.05) difference. Blood biochemical parameters were within normal reference limits without any significant difference between dietary treatments, except a significant linear increase (P<0.05) in aspartate aminotransferase activity in the treatment group, as the feeding trial progressed. It may be concluded that incorporation of up to 10% of walnut cake in the concentrate mixture does not lead to any negative effect on the calcium and phosphorus balance in adult male goats, however, it may cause hepatotoxic effects, as indicated by the elevated aspartate aminotransferase levels and therefore caution needs to be exercised in incorporating walnut cake in ruminant rations.

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