Beef cattle fattening is a potential income generating enterprise for the small scale farmers’ in haor areas. Thus, the experiment was conducted with the aim to observe the effect of urea molasses straw for fattening bull and contribution to the income generation for small scale farmers in haor areas. The experiment was conducted at the Noagaon village under South Sunamganj Upazila of Sunamganj district from January to April 2017. Ten farmers were selected for rearing and each farmer reared one bull (2-3 years old) for fattening. Two groups of animals, treatment group treated with Urea Molasses Straw (UMS) in diet and control group without UMS supplementation, were laid out with five replications in each group. Data on body weight gain and profitability data were collected and analyzed as Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Feeding of urea molasses straw with the dietary feed had shown a positive effect on weight gain. After the end of the experimental period, mean body weight gain (g day-1animal-1) for the treatment and control group were measured as 496.41 and 236.62 g, respectively. The body weight gains of these both feeding groups were insignificant during the first fifteenth days of the experimental period, however, the difference was significant (p<0.05) for the rest of the experimental period. Moreover, higher gross margin was found in the treatment group (Tk. 14,310) than the control group (Tk. 3,810). Therefore, a significant growth performance with a profitable income for the small scale farmers’ of haor areas might be promising from beef cattle fattening by dietary urea molasses straw treatment.

Keywords: Bangladesh, body weight, profitability, dietary, farmers

The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of fenbendazole and piperazine citrate against ascariasis in naturally infected calves of Sylhet government dairy farm, Sylhet, Bangladesh. The study included 84 calves of which 40 were naturally infected. Twenty calves of 1-8 month old were selected on the basis of body weight and faecal egg counts irrespective of sex infested with ascariasis for this experiment and were randomly divided into four equal groups (group A, B, C and D) where each group consisted of 5 calves and calves of group D were kept as control. Two fenbendazole (7.5 mg kg-1 body weight, orally) and piperazine citrate (220 mg kg-1 body weight, orally) preparations were used for treatment of ascariasis in group A, B and C, respectively. Before trials (day 0), total egg count, blood samples and initial body weight were recorded. During the study the fecal and blood samples were collected directly from the rectum and jugular vein, respectively on 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th day. Fecal samples were examined using McMaster fecal egg counting method. Body weights were recorded on day 0 and day 28 following the treatments. The comparative efficacies of different anthelmintic of two fenbendazole were 95.50% and 95.58%, followed by piperazine citrate 97.27%, respectively. McMaster fecal egg counting method discloses the percentage of prevalence of ascariasis 35.71% (1-2 months), 24.00% (3-4 months), 21.74% (5-6 months) and 18.18% (7-8 months), respectively. After treatment with two fenbendazole and piperazine citrate, total erythrocyte count (TEC), hemoglobin (Hb) content and packed cell volume (PCV) increased significantly (p<0.01) in calves but erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and total leukocyte count (TLC) decreased significantly (p<0.05) in all treated calves. Body weight increased significantly (p<0.01) on day 28. Results of the present study revealed the efficacy of multiple anthelmintic against gastrointestinal nematodes in calves. Further studies are required to understand the efficacy of the anthelmintics widely used in different agro-ecologies and livestock industry in Bangladesh.

Keywords: Comparative efficacy, anthelmintic, EPG, hematology, body weight, ascariasis