Vol. 10, Special Issue 9 (2021)

Author(s):
Rajkumar R, Sureshkumar S, Natarajan A, Chandirasekaran V and Geetha M

Abstract:
A detailed investigation was carried out to study the effect of various iso-nitrogenous and calorific pet food formulations (as kibble) such as C (control), T1 with chicken boneless breast, T2 with whole chicken and T3 with chicken offal meal and its growth performance on Wistar rats (n=6). The pet food intake by Wistar rat in the groups was significantly (P<0.05) higher in control, T1 and T3 than T2. Similarly, the cumulative weight gain was significantly higher (P<0.01) in T2 than the C, T1 and T3, correspondingly, the weekly body weight gain also following the same trend. The treatment group (T2) fed with whole chicken based pet food had a low protein intake and exhibited a higher weight gain followed by T1 and T3 than the C group. Comparatively a higher PER was noticed in T2 than T1, T3 and C group. Hence, it is concluded that the Wistar rat groups fed with whole chicken (T2) based pet food formulation had a higher weight gain, followed by pet food formulated with offal meal and chicken boneless breast than the fully vegetarian based pet food.