Effects of dietary supplementation of selenium and moringa oleifera leaves on growth performance of pre-pubertal Kundhi buffalo bull calves

Abstract

The Kundhi buffalo, a unique and robust breed of water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), is native to the Sindh province in Pakistan. This breed is well-adapted to the local environment and known for its excellent milk production, meat quality, and draught power. There is a growing need to develop strategies that focus on the sustainable conservation and genetic improvement of this breed to preserve its valuable traits for future generations. Twelve young bull calves belonging to elite Kundhi buffaloes (observed phenotypically) were obtained from progressive farmers based on their parent's performance records. The bull calves, aged approximately 10-15 months, were initially weighed (rages from 150 to 200 kg) and randomly divided into three groups, namely C, S, and M, each group were comprising 04 animals. Group C was designated as the control group and fed basal diet only, while calves belonging to Group S were given a dietary supplement of Selenium Yeast Sel-Plex®, with a dosage of 0.3mg/kg dry matter and Group M was treated with Moringa olifera leaves (dried) at the rate of 100g/ animal. This experiment was conducted for 12 weeks. The results of present study indicated that significantly (P<0.05) higher monthly body weight gains (14.05 kg/month) were recorded in Kundhi buffalo bull calves of S followed by the M (11.67 kg/month) in comparison to the C group (9.75kg/month) of the animals. The positive coefficient of correlation was seen between age and body weight in all tested subjects. In terms of the body conformation; the monthly developmental gains of the heart girth, body length, and height were observed significantly (P< 0.05) higher (11.2, 8.89 and 8.94 cm) in S, followed by M (8.23, 4.89 and 6.39 cm) in comparison to the control bull calves (4.74, 3.58 and 3.27 cm), respectively. High levels of the testosterone (0.481 ng/ml) were determined in the bull calves of S, followed by M (0.33 ng/ml) in comparison to C (0.208 ng/ml) group. The monthly gains of the scrotal circumference were recorded significantly (P<0.05) higher (1.65 cm) in the S, than to M (1.21 cm) and that of control (0.40 cm) group calves