Effect of feeding yoghurt on feed intake, body weight and feed efficiency in Albino rat

A study was carried out to see the nutritional impact of yoghurt on rat. For this, thirty albino rats were selected of similar age and divided into five groups i.e. A,B,C,D And E. Group A (control) was given only basal diet, where as group B received basal diet + 10% milk, group C basal diet +10% yoghurt, group D basal diet +20% yoghurt and group E basal diet +30% yoghurt. Supplementation of yoghurt in the diets of rats resulted in higher feed intake and better gain in body weight along with better feed efficiency. Enhancing the amount of milk and yoghurt in the food resulted in higher (P<0.05) feed intake in the rats. The maximum weight gain of 73.33 gm at 32nd day of feeding was observed in rats receiving 30% yoghurt, followed by those receiving 10% (67.67gm) and 20% (65.50gm) yoghurt in their diets. The differences in the weight gain among all the groups were highly significant (P<0.01). The diet supplemented with 20 or 30% yoghurt resulted in maximum feed efficiency of 5.19, in comparison with either control group (5.76) or on the diet supplemented with milk (5.53). The differences in the feed efficiency ratio within the groups were not significant.