| Popis: |
The Sri Lankan dry dog food production does not satisfy the existing demand, where the imported brands dominate the local pet food market. Hence the formulation of locally sourced dry dog food with adequate nutritional properties has become a trending industry in Sri Lanka amid its national requirement. Therefore, this study was done to accomplish a nutritionally based comparison between imported dog food and locally manufactured food. Comparative growth performances were evaluated between the two groups of healthy, male, 6-8 weeks aged, mongrel puppies (n=5) fed with two food types. A sensory panel consisting of 30 untrained panellists evaluated the feed effect on hair coat conditions. Proximate composition, energy estimation, extrude characteristics, and palatability parameters of two food were analyzed through the independent sample t-test. The results of the proximate analysis revealed 18% (SD ± 0.30) protein, 6.4% (SD ± 0.09) fat, 9.70 (SD ± 0.08) moisture, 0.8% (SD ± 0.03) crude fiber, 9.3% (SD ± 0.07) ash, 55.8% (SD ± 0.55) carbohydrate, and 352.8 (SD ± 0.34) kcal/100g of energy in local food while imported food reported same parameters as 24.1% (SD ± 0.19), 10%(SD±0.19), 12.1% (SD ± 0.06), 2.8% (SD ± 0.05), 0.7% (SD ± 0.10), 44% (SD ± 0.56) and 362.4 (SD ± 0.27) kcal/100g, respectively. The two food types revealed a better impact and no significant difference (P>0.05) on hair coat condition. The imported food showed a significantly higher (P>0.05) growth performance of 0.595 kg per week (SD ± 0.03) in puppies than the locally manufactured food; 0.43 kg per week (SD ± 0.03), probably attributed to high protein content in the former. However, the nutrient content of the locally manufactured dry dog food is more compatible with adult dogs’ maintenance requirements, as the literature cites. |
