Abstract:
Ten male Nubian kids at sexual maturity age ranged between
(7-8) months were used in a study to investigate the effect of
castration on feed intake, feed conversion ratio, body weight gain
and some blood parameters which include: glucose, cholesterol,
total protein, albumin, globulin, urea and uric acid.
The kids were randomly divided into two groups. Group (A)
were all intact males and (B) were castrated using Burdizzo
castration method. Each group contained five kids. The average
initial weight of the two groups were matching 14.6 + 3.41 and
14.8+ 3.36kg respectively.
The kids were individually accommodated and fed adlibitum.
The daily feed intake and weekly weight and blood samples for
the metabolites tests were taken. This experiment continued for
eight weeks. The data obtained were then analyzed using student t
test to examine the significance of the effect of castration on the
feedlot performance and the blood metabolites levels.
The study showed that there was no significant differences
between the intact and castrated kids in feed intake, although, the
intact kids showed significantly (P<0.05) higher body weight gain
compared to the castrated kids. There were no significant
differences
between
the
intact
and
castrated
kids
in
feed
conversion ratio, although the castrated kids had a higher value
than the intact kids which suggest that the feed conversion ratio of
intact kids was better than the castrated.
The results of blood metabolites showed that there were no
significant differences between the two groups except for the
glucose level which was significantly higher for the castrated kids
and the urea level was significantly higher for the intact kids.
Correlation and regression among the examined parameters
showed that there were significant correlations between feed
intake, weekly weight gain and blood urea levels with the weekly
body weight, total cholesterol, albumin and urea levels.
The study showed no significant effect on most feedlots
performance and metabolic parameters studied.
