Author(s):
PC Joshi, MM Pawar, YM Gami, SS Patil, MP Patel and HH Panchasara
Abstract:
Functional oils, such as castor oil are chemical substances extracted from various plants parts which provide health beneï¬ts besides their nutritive properties. A pilot study was conducted to assess the effect of feeding castor (
Ricinus communis) oil on milk yield and composition in lactating Kankrej cows. Thirty two lactating Kankrej cows (21 days in milk; average 9.74 kg/d of milk yield) were assigned randomly into four treatments having 8 cows each. The four treatments were: T
1: control group (without castor oil); T
2: 5 ml/d castor oil; T
3: 10 ml/d castor oil and T
4: 15 ml/d castor oil supplementation for a period of 21 days. The average milk yield, 4% fat corrected milk (FCM) and energy corrected milk (ECM) yield was increased numerically by 7.6, 9.2 and 9.8%, respectively in T
4 group as compared to control. The percentage of milk fat and lactose were similar among the different treatments. Milk total solids, solid-not fat and protein were significantly (
P<0.05) higher in group T
2 than the group T
1 and comparable to both in the groups T
3 and T
4. It is concluded that dietary inclusion of castor oil at the rate of 15 ml/d has improved milk yield and modified the milk composition in lactating Kankrej cows.
PC Joshi, MM Pawar, YM Gami, SS Patil, MP Patel and HH Panchasara. A pilot study on effect of feeding castor (Ricinus communis) oil on milk yield and composition in lactating Kankrej cows. J Pharmacogn Phytochem 2018;7(6):126-128.