Large numbers of species of tree fodder are being used as green roughage source for goats in several farming systems. A study was carried out at Goat Research Station, Bandipur, Nepal in order to compare the feeding value of commonly used tree fodder leaves in mid-hills of Nepal. Altogether five treatments; tree fodder leaves of Ficus semicordata, Shorea robusta, Ficus glaberrima and Ficus lacor and mixed fodder as the conventional practices of the farmers were evaluated in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Total of 30 male goats were used for the experiment in five groups, 6 for each treatment. The subsequent experiment was carried out to determine the nutrient digestibility of the tree fodder leaves by using fecal collection method. Nutrient composition, voluntary intake and nutrient digestibility of the fodder leaves and growth performance of goats were monitored. Crude protein (CP), total ash (TA), organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), hemicelluloses and cellulose proportion were better for F. glaberrima and F. lacor leaves, whereas the digestibility of those nutrients were better for F. semicordata leaves and moderate for F. glaberrima and S. robusta. Voluntary fodder dry matter intake was highest for F. glaberrima and least for mixed fodders. Growth performance of goats was higher for F. lacor and F. glaberrima than other tree fodder leaves and mixed fodders. The leaves of F. lacor and F. glaberrima had shown better feeding value than the conventional practices of farmers, mixed fodders. The leaves of S. robusta and F. semicordata were observed similar with the mixed fodders for their feeding value.

Chitwan district of Nepal has been known as the dairy kingdom of the country considering its strategic location andpotential to easily provision inputs and produce as well as market quality milk across the country. However, theclimate especially during summer has been a challenge to farmers that potentially compromise the daily milk yieldof cows. Therefore, sixteen crossbred dairy cattle were placed in a RCBD fashion to assess the impacts of cold waterbathing in ameliorating effect of heat stress on their performance and body physiology. Routine assessment of themicroclimate within the experimental shed and blood parameters was made. The results from the experimentinferred that frequency of bathing (none, once, twice or thrice a day) did not have any significant impact onHaemoglobin, Haematocrit, Sodium, Potassium, Chloride and Bicarbonate levels in the blood plasma(p>0.05). Inaddition, the animals did not exhibit any signs of physiological distress clinically either. A detailed study scopingtemperature humidity index and over a number of other milk and blood parameters are to be tested across a numberof other available breeds too in order for the researchers to come to a meaningful strategy to beat the heat stress.

This study was carried out to assess the effect of live yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (NutrifermTM) inclusion in feed and its effects on milk composition and gross profit-margin from crossbred dairy cattle at Khumaltar, condition. An Experiment was carried out at National Cattle Research Program station of Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC), Khumaltar, Lalitpur of Nepal for 28 days from 19 March 2015 to 15 April 2015. Twenty crossbred cattle were selected randomly and divided into five treatment groups with each, group having four cows arranged in Complete Randomized Design (CRD). Five type of ration was composed to experimental animals; T1 : 0.5kg/MT, T2: 1 kg/MT, T3: 1.5 kg/MT, T4 : 2 kg/MT and T5 as control. Milk samples were collected during milking and Lactoscan auto analyzer was used to measure fat, solid not fat (SNF), lactose, protein along with the volume for four weeks’ experimental period. Data was analyzed using Split plot ANOVA method. Mean fat percentage between treatments was found non-significant but there was significant difference (P<0.05) in mean fat percentage across different time periodS in day 1st and 28th day being statistically significant. In this experiment, changes SNF, protein, and lactose in milk were found to be non-significant. Gross profit-margin of the milk production was done with the market price of raw milk and it was found to be significant (P<0.05) for 1st and 28th days of experiment. Supplementation of liveyeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (NutrifermTM) @ 2 kg/ 1000 kg feed with standard feeding diet enhanced the milk production, improved fat content in milk and generate profit margin.

Mastitis is an economically important disease of dairy cattle worldwide. To assess its economic impact, a study was conducted in 384 households from eight districts namely Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Sarlahi, Chitwan, Rupandehi, Makawanpur and Kavre of Nepal having major dairy pockets, higher number of cattle population and higher number artificial insemination records. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed, pretested and asked with the respondents having dairy cattle. A focus group discussion was made with the members of dairy cooperatives, service providers from the government and private sectors including veterinarians, paraprofessionals and development workers. The key informant’s interview was performed with livestock experts from veterinary laboratories, veterinarians from Department of Livestock Services (DLS) and Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) to identify and triangulate the economic loss caused by clinical and subclinical mastitis. The survey results showed that an estimated loss of 8320 million Nepalese rupees (around 64 million USD) for sub-clinical mastitis and 4430 million rupees (around 34 million USD) for clinical mastitis. Dairy cattle suffering from mastitis also showed the higher incidence of infertility. The probability of infertility in mastitis affected cattle is 11% higher as compared non affected cattle. It is recommended to initiate the effective mastitis control program immediately which also helps to reduce the incidence of infertility in dairy cattle.

Caponization is a surgical technique that alters the sexual maturation of male chickens and improves quality characteristics of carcass and meat. The present experiment was conducted in order to evaluate the effects of caponization on body weight, carcass composition and meat quality of dual purpose chicken. A total of 48 dual-purpose breeds of Chicken, namely New Hampshire (NH) and Black Australorp (BA) were examined in a 2 × 2 factorial design each treatment having twelve birds till the age of 32 weeks. The results showed that the growth rate up until the age of 20 are not significant statistically which became significant afterwards (p<0.01). Likewise, some desirable changes in body morphology, carcass quality (p<0.05) and dressing out recovery were also observed. The hedonic ranking test also inferred that the meat from capons are liked by consumers highly significantly (p<0.01). The results of this study indicate that the caponized chicken can be used as a valuable material for production of high quality meat. Based on the overall results patterns and indication of this study, a more detailed study to minutely study the fatty acid, amino acid and mineral profile along with evaluation of the proper age at which caponization can bring about the most desirable changes should be lined up. Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 6(4): 339-343