Effect of curds as probiotic supplement on performance of Cheghu crossbred kids

An experiment was carried out for 90 days to assess the effect of curds as a probiotic supplement on the performance of Cheghu crossbred kids. Twelve 1-month-old kids were assigned to two groups of six each in a completely randomized design and were allowed to suckle their dams freely with ad lib creep mixture and grazing. The experimental group was fed curds orally at the rate of 15 ml/day while the control group did not receive any such supplement. The weight gain and average daily gain in the experimental group was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than the control group (4.37 vs. 3.15 kg and 44.6 vs. 32.1 g/day). Further, the incidence of diarrhoea in the experimental group was lower than the control group. Thus curds can be an economic probiotic supplement for enhancing the performance of Cheghu crossbred kids. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.