Domestic work animals exist in all regions of the world. In India, the energy for ploughing two-thirds of the cultivated area comes from animal power and they haul up to 15 per cent of the total freight in the available 14 million animal drawn carts. Thus the stock of 60 million working cattle and buffaloes were used for various agricultural operations, saving fossil fuel worth Rs 60 billion, annually. With nearly 83 million land holding (more than 75% of the land holding) being less than 2 ha in size, the animal power can play a very important role in Indian agriculture. But the cropping season in India generally lasts for only 30 days during <italic>kharif</italic> and 30 days in during <italic>rabi</italic> or a total of 60 days in a year. Atleast 200 days of work was necessary to get the breakeven point considering the cost of maintenance and market hire rate for draught animals. The annual use of Draught Animal Power should be expanded through haulage and rotary mode of operation for agro processing and electricity generation and the new research findings should be communicated to the farmers through training.
Domestic rabbit belongs to genus Oryctolagus cuniculus which has 38 important breeds and 77 varieties of European rabbits. The domestic rabbit is known to produce quality meat, fur and very fine quality animal fibre. Rabbit rearing has gained momentum in the recent years among the developing countries including India, owing to their small body size, rapid growth rate, high prolificacy, early maturity, shorter generation interval and ability to utilize forage and fibrous agricultural by-products. In India, there has been a rising awareness in recent years on the virtues of broiler rabbit production as an alternative means of alleviating food shortages. India is also one of the developing countries which are also facing meat shortage of 4.66 g/day against the recommended requirement of 87 g/day. In India, the total rabbit population has increased from 424 thousands in 2007 to 591.6 thousand in 2012 which is 39.55% increase in last 5 years.
Aim: To know the feasibility of hygienic and environmentally safe method of disposal of broiler slaughter house waste with coir pith and caged layer manure. Materials and Methods: Compost bins (4 feet x 4 feet x 4 feet) were established with concrete blocks with air holes to facilitate aerobic composting. The broiler slaughter waste and coconut coir pith waste were collected from the local market, free of cost. The caged layer manure available from poultry farms were utilized as manure substrate. Physical properties and chemical composition of ingredients were analyzed and a suitable compost recipe was formulated (USDA-NRCS, 2000). Two control bins were maintained simultaneously, using caged layer manure with coir pith waste and water in a ratio of 0.8:3:1.2 (T ) and another one bin using caged layer manure alone(T ).
3Results: At the end of composting, moisture content, weight and the Volume of the compost were reduced significantly (P<0.01), pH, EC, TDS, total organic carbon and total nitrogen content were also significantly (P<0.01) reduced at the finishing of composting. Calcium, phosphorous and potassium content was progressively increased during composting period. The finished compost contains undetectable level of salmonella. Cowpea and sorghum seeds showed positive germination percentage when this finished compost was used. It indicated that all of the finished compost was free from phytotoxin substances.
Conclusion:The results indicated that, composting of slaughter waste combined with coir pith waste may be a hygienic and environmentally safe method of disposal of broiler slaughter house waste.
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