NARAIN
DAS
KEHAR
41
TABLE I
Total available feeding stuffs (in 1,000 tons)
Source of feeding
stuffs
Dry fodder .
Green fodder .
Concentrates .
Cotton seed .
Avail-
able
quantity
1,11,000
1,00,000
1,500
2,300
Calculated nutrients
Diges-
tible
crude
protein
1,010
1,000
450
300
Digestible
carbohy-
drate
34,580
10,000
375
690
Digest-
ible
fat
383
250
150
367
Total
digestible
nutrients
36,480
11,562
1,163
1,818
If we calculate the amount of nutrients available
per head of cattle (Table II) and compare it with
the normal food requirements of an adult animal
weighing 500 lb., leaving aside the growth and
production allowances, it will be recognized that,
even under normal conditions, the supply of food
falls short of their requirements.
TABLE II
Foodstuffs available per head of cattle
—
Total digestible nutrients .
Total digestible crude protein
Dry fodder
Dry matter { Green fodder
Concentrates
Available
in India
in tons
5,10,13,000
27,60,000
11,10,00,000
10,00,00,000
38,00,000
Available
per animal
per day for
215 million
heads of
cattle
in lb.
1.456
0.079
3.17
0.55 } 3.38
0.11
Normal
require-
ment for
an animal
of 500 lb,
body
weight
in lb.
3.9
0.3
10.0 to
11.0
It has, however, been pointed out by Wright
[1937] that the total available nutrients may be
sufficient to meet the requirements of milk produc-
tion alone, assuming for the moment that the re-
quirements for the growing stock and for working
cattle will be met from grazing, tree fodders and
from other miscellaneous sources. Wright also
observes that underfeeding is apparent from the
slow rate of growth, the late maturity and the long
dry periods. It is quite usual for a cow to drop
her first calf at four to five years of age and to have
calving intervals up to 600 days. That these are
not hereditary defects is proved by early maturity
and controlled breeding experiments in herds where
the feeding and management are satisfactory.
The above observations, therefore, suggest that,
even under conditions where rainfall is within
normal range, the feeds available for livestock
from all sources so far known are just on the bor-
der-line of sufficiency. Scarcity, however, is
immediately felt if the monsoon fails. During the
last century there were about ten drought periods,
some of great severity. The recent famine (1937-
40) which affected Sind, Rajputana and the south-
western Punjab is said to have been the severest
within living memory, and to have caused very
heavy mortality from disease as well as from
starvation and thirst [Chandra, 1939].
Moreover, the shortage of water resulted in a
complete failure of fodder and crops, so that most
of the good cattle of the locality had to be sent
away to other places, sold at such ridiculously low
prices as 8 annas per cow (personal communica-
tions). [Chandra 1939 A, and B] reported the
death of a large number of cattle en route to the
grazing areas of the United Provinces, due to
cold or to the inferior and unsuitable grazing in the
jungles. It was reported that about four lakhs of
cattle died in Karachi district alone. According
to information supplied by the Marketing Officer,
Sind (personal communication) there were approxi-
mately 5,61,000 cattle before the famine in the
Thar Division of the Tharparkar district. By May
1940, when the famine was still raging, about
2,69,000 of these had died, 1,17,000 were exported
and 10,000 sold. In the affected areas of the
Rohtak district, the cattle population decreased by
30 to 60 per cent. Sheep and camels were com.
paratively in a happier position, as they can
subsist on the flora available in the xerophytic
areas (Plate VI, figs. 1 and 2). The effect of this
famine on the livestock in the Hissar district is
shown in Table III, where the census figures of
1935 are compared with those of 1940.
The scarcity of draught animals was so acute
that the poor cultivator, whose bullocks had died
of starvation, had to yoke his wife and children
to the plough.
The remaining animals also manifested defi-
ciency diseases, especially these due to lack of
vitamin A, such as night blindness, xerophthal-
mia, abortion, retained placenta and calf scours.
Most of the survivors which were hidebound deve-
loped depraved appetite. Besides, the calf and
lamb crop, the carrying capacity and the milk
production were reduced.
The question then of keeping these animals
alive during these lean periods is one of vital in-
terest to animal nutrition workers whose duty it
is to find new sources of fodder, which may be
exploited for this purpose.
EXPERIMENTAL
Methods and material
During a visit to the famine-striken areas it
occurred to the writer that it might be possible in
an emergency to utilize factory or agricultural by-
products or even weeds found either around these
areas or within easy reach as rations for livestock.
Other suggested famine fodders were xerophytic
shrubs such as Zyziphus nummularia, W. and A.
(shrub berry), Launaea nudicaulis Hk. f. (ghobhi
grass), Tamarix articulata Vahl (loi), Alhagi came-
lorum Fisch. (kandrari), Capparis aphylla Roth.