212
Investigations of Famine Rations
[Vol. XVIII, Part IV
India, except for insignificant amounts used for thatching purposes and apart from the indifferent
[Hall, 1946] and occasional browsing by animals, it is considered as one of the most pernicious weeds
and large amounts of money are spent in certain farms on its eradication. Howard and Howard
[1929] pointed out that in extreme cases of infestation the farmer had to give up cultivation of the
particular land and Howard (1927) showed that kans was responsible for an enormous monetary
loss in reducing the yield of cotton.
A survey of the kans-ridden areas suggested that it might be utilized as a famine fodder in green
or dry condition. In both forms its chemical make-up (Tables I and VII) indicated that in green
condition it compared favourably with some of the cultivated fodders and at the ripe stage with
cereal straws. Encouraged by the above observations, it was considered desirable to study (1) its
palatability in both dry and green conditions when fed as a single or mixed feed, (2) its nutritive
value, (3) its effect upon the health of animals when fed over a prolonged period, and (4) yield of
dry matter and other nutrients per acre.
EXPERIMENTAL
Since according to available information kans was not considered a normal fodder and was to be
tried as a stand-by for scarcity periods, Kumauni bullocks, which were used as experimental animals,
were kept for about 10 days on half the scheduled ration before commencing feeding of kans. The
object was to simulate fodder shortage conditions prevailing in scarcity areas. The feeding trials
were conducted at two different stages of growth of the plant, namely before blossoming in the green
state and after it was dead ripe.
(1) EXPERIMENTS ON GREEN kans
Green kans was analyzed for crude protein, ether extract, crude fibre, nitrogen-free extract,
carbohydrates, calcium, and phosphorus. It was found (Table I) that it compared favourably with
some of the cultivated fodders like guinea grass (prime) and napier grass (prime).
TABLE I
Chemical composition of kans as compared with some cultivated fodders (on dry basis)
—
Green leans
.....
Guinea grass (prime) ...
Napier grass (prime) ...
Crude
protein
5.30
4.8
5.4
Ether-
extract
1.42
0.66
1.89
Crude
fibre
40.0
42.1
31.9
N.-free
extract
49.1
40.1
44.2
Total
carbo-
hydrates
89.1
82.2
76.1
Calcium
0.58
0.50
0.33
Phos-
phorus
0.67
0.39
0.35
It will be observed that its chemical make-up green kans is superior to guinea grass in protein,
nitrogen-free extract, total carbohydrates and phosphorus, and to napier grass in nitrogen-free extract,
total carbohydrates, calcium, and phosphorus.
For feeding trials three Kumauni bullocks weighing 382, 386 and 354 lb. were selected. Green
leans at the pre-flowering stage was obtained every morning from the Institute farm. Prior to feeding
green kans, these animals had free access to pasture and got other succulent cultivated fodder at
night in the stalls. At first they did not relish the change-over to kans, but when the plant was
chaffed the animals soon started taking a sufficient quantity. The mean dry matter consumption
from this single feed (Table II) was 1.8 lb. pet 100 lb. body weight.