Bhimal (Grewia optiva) is a fodder tree mostly found in mid hills of mid and far western region of Nepal. Bhimalcould constitutes one of the main livestock green fodders, especially for goats when fresh green fodder become limited during the winter dry season. However, the feeding value of Bhimalleaveson growth performance of castrated goats probably has not been evaluated so far. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to evaluate theeffect of Bhimalleaves feeding ongrowth performance of castrated male goatsfor 90 days.Altogether 16 growing castrated male goats of same breed, age and body weight were selected and equally divided into four treatments T1, T2, T3 and T4 with four replications by using Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Fourtypesof experimental diets wereprepared having various levels (0 to 100%) of Bhimalleaves as fodder. Experimental animals of Treatment 1 were fed with seasonal fodder + 100 g concentrate mixture, Treatment 2 with 100% Bhimal fodder + 100 g concentrate mixture, Treatment 3with 75% Bhimal fodder + 25% seasonal fodder + 100 g concentrate mixture, while Treatment 4 with 50% Bhimal fodder + 50% season fodder + 100 g concentrate mixture.All diets were fed ad-lib andexperimental animals had free access to drinking water. The dietsoffered and refusal was measured daily and weight change was observed fortnightly. The resultshowed that fodder intake (g/d/animal) and total dry matter intake (TDMI g/kg live weight) of goats differed significantly (P<0.01), but concentrate intake was not differed significantly (P<0.01) among treatments. The highest dry matter intake per animal /day was in Treatment 2 (52.75 g/kg live weight) followed by Treatment 4, Treatment 3 and Treatment 1 (51.7, 48.56 and 32.69 g/kg live weight, respectively).The average daily gain in body weight was observed highest in Treatment 2 (66.66 g/d) followed by Treatment 3 (31.66 g/d) and Treatment 4 (30.83 g). The growth rate was significantly (P<0.01) different among diet groups (P<0.05, P<0.01 and P<0.01 for 60, 75 and 90 days, respectively). In case of the feed conversion ratio, Treatment 2 had best ratio (8.79:1) than Treatment 1 (14.21:1), T3 (17.03:1) and Treatment 4 (18.59:1). The present response study showed thatbody weight in castrated male goatscan be increased significantly (P<0.05) implying that in winter season when other green forages are poorly available goat farming can be supported by Bhimalfodder tree. Keywords

A study was conducted to evaluate the comparative performance of four different lines of New Hampshire (NH) poultry breed collected from different governmental farms of Pokhara, Parwanipur, Khajura and Khumaltar, Nepal. The study was undertaken for seven months from March to September 2020. The study included 160 chicks with 20 male and 20 female from each line. The experiment was conducted in a Completely Randomized Design with four treatments of different lines and eight replications. The results showed that the highest average weight of day-old chicks was found for Khumaltar line and the lowest for Pokhara line (p<0.001). Similarly, the highest fourth week’s weight was found 237.50±16.88 g in Khajura line and the lowest 191.60±26.53 g in Parwanipur line. In case of eight weeks weight, both male and female was the highest in Khajura line, which were 0.72±0.12 kg and 0.52±0.07 kg, respectively. At that stage, the male weight was significant (p<0.001) but non-significant (p>0.05) in female. Similar pattern was found in twelve and sixteen weeks, but the weight of both sex was significant (p<0.001) at twenty and twenty-four weeks. At the final measurement in 24 weeks, the male and female weight was the highest in Khajura line and the lowest in Parwanipur line. The weight of both sexes of Pokhara and Khumaltar lines were similar. Khajura line was better than other lines indicating that this line is more appropriate be used for further improvement of the NH lines of the country.

The study was conducted at National Animal Nutrition Research Center, Khumaltar to examine the effect of comfrey on growth performance and carcass characteristics of Turkey from 8 th weeks to 22 nd of age. A total of 84 8 th week of age unsexed turkey chicks were allocated randomly into four treatment with three replication having seven birds in each replication using completely randomized design (CRD). All the turkey were kept in adjustment period for one week.During the experimental periods, four experimental diets were Control (concentrate diet, (T0)) and 10%, 20% and 30% comfrey included diet i.e. treatment (T1), treatment (T2) and treatment (T3), respectively. The results showed that at earlier days of experiment, the feed intake of comfrey inclusion diet was lower.However, the intake of feed increase significantly (p<0.05) at 30% comfrey included diet. The mean weekly weight of the turkey with diet of 30% comfrey included was significantly lower (p<0.05) up to 11 th weeks of age, but the weight of the birds were found similar at later stage of growth. There was no significant difference in live weight, carcass weight and other visceral organs weight except chest, back, shank and lungs weight. The results implied that the comfrey forage can be incorporated in formulated diet of turkey at the inclusion level of 20% for higher production performance with low feed intake. In coming days, further study on nutrients component of comfrey improving immune modulation, meat quality and production of safe meat production need to be carried out.