December, 1954 ]
N.
D.
KEHAR
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for animals in the control group was 0.221 lb. per day and that for the animals
in the experimental group was 0.391 lb. per day, i.e., 76.9 per cent more than
the control group. This could thus be taken as a measure of the effectiveness of
the treated paddy straw over the untreated one.
3. Montgomery. The value of ' t' was found to be significant at 5 per cent
level indicating that the feeding of alkali-treated wheat straw accelerates the rate of
growth of animals by 18.7 per cent—the average rates of growth were 1.107 lb.
and 1.315 lb. per day in the control and the experimental groups respectively.
4. Rampur. The animals at this centre suffered from an outbreak of foot and
mouth disease. The intensity of infection was different for different animals. This
was also exhibited by high variations in the growth rate of animals belonging to both
the control and the experimental groups. The analysis of variance showed the value
of ' t' just falling short of the significance value at 5 per cent level. Had there
been no outbreak of the disease, the variation within groups would have been rea-
sonably expected to be of much smaller magnitude and the value of ' t' in that
case might have come out to be significant at 5 per cent level bringing out the differ-
ence between the treatment and the control more glaringly.
From the foregoing analysis of data it appears that the rate of growth of calves
is different at different centres. By going through the various factors it was observed
that the plane of nutrition seems to play an important role. When the experiment
was planned it was decided not to bring any changes in the routine practices adopted
in regard to feeding and management of animals at the collaborating centres. An
examination, however, of the feeds given to animals in these centres showed that
where the plane of nutrition is low the effect of the treatment on growth rate is more
pronounced, whereas, when the plane of nutrition is high, such as at Montgomery,
the rate of increase in growth resulting out of feeding of alkali-treated straw is lower.
The results presented above appear to indicate that there is some relation between
the plane of nutrition and rate of increase in growth consequent on the feeding of
alkali-treated straws. Due to the unspecified nature of the planes of nutrition at
different centres, it has not been possible to study this relation from the present
data, but it seems worthwhile to undertake a controlled experiment with specified
levels of feeding to investigate this point in greater details.
At Rampur the basic ration was very poor and when treated straw was subs-
tituted for untreated straw a larger moiety of energy was made available and this
besides its own physiological effect also acted beneficially by sparing the protein
requirement.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
The general observations recorded during the feeding regime at the various
centres are briefly given below:
Sodepur. Although there was no close check on the details of management
of the animals it was observed that after 200 days of alkali-treated straw feeding,
three calves of the experimental group were showing symptoms of sudden fits which
would last for about 15 to 20 minutes. As soon as the effect of fits passed, the