Background: Due to increased price of soybean meal, dairy farmers are seeking suitable and viable alternate protein supplement to soybean meal for economic ration formulation. Thus, a study was conducted to evaluate the effect of inclusion of cottonseed meal (CSM) as an alternate protein source in growing buffalo calves. Methods: A total of 12 buffalo calves aged approximately 6-12 months with 149.88±9.93 kg average body weight were randomly assigned to three treatment groups with four calves each, designated as control (C), T1 and T2 groups. Soybean meal (SBM) in concentrate mixture fed to C group was replaced by cottonseed meal (CSM) at 75 and 100% level on w/w basis in T1 and T2 groups, respectively. The duration of study was 120 days. Result: The digestibility of nutrients in T1 and T2 groups was similar to of C group. The total nitrogen intake, N outgo and N balance varied non-significantly among C, T1 and T2 groups. The blood metabolites and cell mediated immune response in T1 and T2 groups were similar to that of C group. The average daily gain in T2 group was numerically higher than other groups. It was concluded that CSM could replace SBM upto 100% on w/w basis in the concentrate mixture without any adverse effect on growth, nutrient utilization, blood biochemical profile, cell mediated immune response and growth of calves.

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Background: The price of conventional protein sources like soybean and peanut has increased markedly in recent years resulting in urgent need for exploring alternate protein sources. Due to increase in availability of cottonseed meal (CSM) in cotton-growing areas of India as compared to other oil seed meals, CSM is becoming one of the major components of concentrate mixture (CM) fed to animals. Methods: A study was undertaken to assess the chemical composition and in vitro nutritional worth of CSM in comparison to conventional oilseed cakes used in livestock feeding. Result: The CP content of protein sources varied from 47.85% in CSM to 47.76% in soybean meal (SBM). The net gas production (NGP, ml/g DM/24h) in CSM (160.48) was lower (P less than 0.05) than SBM (198.04) and MC (199.55). The metabolizable energy (ME, MJ/kg DM) was higher (P less than 0.05) in MC and lowest (P less than 0.05) in DMC. The partitioning factor (PF, mg/ml), OM digestibility (%), DM digestibility (%), NDF digestibility (%), efficiency of microbial mass production (EMMP, %), fermented CO2 was reported to be higher (P less than 0.05) in CSM compared to conventional oilseed cakes. The TVFA (mM/dl) production in CSM (6.63) was higher (P less than 0.05) than GNC (6.45) but lower (P less than 0.05) than SBM (6.97), MC (7.11) and DMC (7.25). The fermentation efficiency (FE, %) in CSM (74.70) and GNC (74.97) was higher (P less than 0.05) than conventional oilseed cakes. The VFA utilization index (VFA UI) was highest (P less than 0.05) in SBM (3.81) and lowest (P less than 0.05) in GNC (3.39). The results revealed that CSM has the potential to be used as a protein source for livestock feeding.