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are burrowing mites which causes major constraints in rabbit production. Eighty-eight rabbits were examined for mange infestation at University Research Farm, Tamil Nadu. Overall incidence of mange infestation in rabbit was 23.6 %. On microscopical examination, the mite was identified as Among the breeds, Soviet Chinchilla were found to be infested more (57.14 %) followed by New Zealand White (28.57 %) and White Giant (28.57 %). Among the age groups, adults (33.33 %) were heavily infested than the grower (21.88 %) whereas, suckling had no infestation of mange. Among the sex, males (21.95 %) were heavily infested than the females (14.89 %). Lesions were mostly found on the edges of ear, nose, face and legs and characterized by loss of hair, thickening of the skin, irregular dried dirty encrusted scabs with erythema and disfigurement of face and ear.

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of concentrate and urea molasses mineral block (UMMB) supplementation on sheep under intensive system of rearing. Eight weaned Mecheri ram lambs were reared under concentrate (T 1 ) and UMMB (T 2 ) supplementation for 150 days. There was no significant difference between the groups in final body weight at the end of growth trial. Cumulative DMI was significantly higher (P < 0.01) in T 1 group than T 2 but, the supplementation of UMMB increased the intake of other fodders. Cumulative body weight gain was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in T 1 group in 5 months of the feeding experiment. Cumulative FCR was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in T 1 group in 0 to 60 and 0 to 90 days period and there after the difference was not significant. Cumulative per cent feed efficiency was better in T 1 group at 0 to 90 days and 0 to 150 days of the experiment. It was concluded that UMMB could be used as a versatile non protein nitrogenous supplement to replace concentrate feed for intensively reared Mecheri sheep.Key words: Concentrate feed, Growth, Intensive rearing, Mecheri lambs, UMMB supplementation. INRODUCTIONDecreasing grazing lands and low productivity of animals, coupled with irregular pattern of rainfall are the important factors affecting the profit of sheep rearing. Because of these reasons, intensive rearing and grazing with supplementation are nowadays tried by the farmers in sheep production. Intensive system of rearing is recommended to farmers with cultivable land and places with limited scope for grazing animals. Shortage of fodder and their poor nutritive value could be tackled to some extent by way of supplementation with concentrate feed or any other feed supplements. But these supplements are usually costly.Use of non protein nitrogenous (NPN) substances like urea has been tried widely to replace the costly source of proteins in ruminant diet. Urea Molasses Mineral Block (UMMB) is made by combining urea, molasses and minerals in a form that can be used for feeding of animals and it has been used successfully in cattle (Sansoucy, 1995 andGarg et al. 1998). In some countries, UMMB have also been tried in diets of small ruminants (Aquino et al., 1998 andForsberg et al., 2002). In India studies on supplementation of UMMB for small ruminants are limited. Hence, the present study was conducted to find out the effect of concentrate and Urea Molasses Mineral Block supplementation on the growth and feed consumption of Mecheri lambs for mutton production under intensive system of rearing. MATERIALS AND METHODSA growth trial was conducted with 16 main season Mecheri ram lambs and the animals were randomly divided into two groups of eight animals each. Ram lambs selected were in the age group of 2 to 4 months with average body weight of 9.8 kg and were weaned and accustomed to concentrate feeding. First treatment group was reared under intensive rearing with concentrate supplementation (T 1 ) and second group under intensive rearing with UMMB supplementation (T ...

Whole dead poultry birds obtained from commercial layer farms were assessed for fat in the whole carcass and then dry rendered in three different rendering regimens T 1 , T 2 and T 3 (temperature = 120, 130 and 140°C and shell pressure = 1, 2 and 3 kg/cm 2 respectively) and the effect on the yield and quality of the rendered chicken oil were studied. The overall fat percentage of the whole dead poultry carcass was 14.55 ± 0.17 % and the fat content of 'greaves' was 14.49 ± 0.38 %. In the dry batch rendering trials, the mean overall fat recovery was 24.46 ± 1.19, 26.78 ± 3.14 and 22.42 ± 2.32 % and the overall fat yield was 3.52 ± 1.72, 3.84 ± 0.44 and 3.22 ± 0.33 % of the carcass weight in T 1 , T 2 and T 3 respectively. Solvent extraction of fat could recover 96.10 ± 0.14 % of fat from 'greaves' which was significantly higher than the mechanical centrifugation method. Among the quality characteristics of the rendered chicken oil (RCO), moisture content ranged from 0.61 % (T 2 ) to 1.09 % (T 1 ) and the mean specific gravity was 0.91 at 30°C. The FFA values of RCO obtained from the T 3 rendering regimen were significantly (p \ 0.05) higher than the FFA values of T 2 and T 1 . The mean acid value, iodine number, peroxide value, saponification value and unsaponifiable matter present in RCO showed no significant difference. The fatty acid profile and calorific values were studied. The RCO was converted to biodiesel by transesterification and the physico-chemical properties of the biodiesel were studied and compared with the Indian biodiesel specification.