author(s)
Diksha Dabral, BC Mondal, Manju Lata and Ashoka Kumar

abstract
A feeding trail was conducted to discern the effect of dietary incorporation of green pea pods vis-a-vis conventional mixed green fodder in crossbred female calves on growth, nutrient utilization and certain haemato-biochemical constituents for 60 days. Sixteen crossbred female calves (9-12 months of age with average body weight of 105±6.31 kg) were divided into two groups of eight each after an adaptation period of 10 days. The crossbred female calves of group I were fed with concentrate mixture @ 1.0 kg per day and mixed green fodder (containing green oats, green berseem and green mustard approximately in 1:1:1 ratio) with wheat straw @ 10:1 ratio on fresh basis and the calves in group II were fed with concentrate mixture @1.0 kg per day and green pea pods mixed with wheat straw in 10:1 ratio on fresh basis. The mixed green fodder contained 25.97% dry matter and 13.78% crude protein on dry matter basis, whereas green pea pods contained 29.87% dry matter and 17.25% crude protein on dry matter basis. The average daily body weight gains in calves of group I and group II were 695.83±73.58 g and 650.00±39.96 g, respectively. Calves of group I had significantly (P<0.05) higher dry matter intake per kg metabolic body size than of group II. The digestible crude protein intake of group II in which calves were fed with green pea pods was significantly (P<0.01) higher than group I fed with mixed green fodder. The digestibility coefficients of crude protein and crude fibre were significantly (P<0.01) higher in calves of group II than in calves of group I, whereas digestibility coefficient of ether extract was significantly (P<0.005) higher in calves of group I than of group II. Haemato-biochemical constituents were similar in both the groups of calves. It was inferred that green pea pods left after shelling of pea seeds can be used as livestock feed, as the nutritional value was similar to those of conventional mixed green fodder.