author(s)
Dharma Sahu, Dilip Kumar Mandal, Monanki Podder, Sofi Aaqib Rashid, Nitin Kumar, Diwakar and Manish Kumar Kushwaha

abstract
The study was carried out to find out the effects of soft flooring and roof thermal insulation on blood metabolites and feed intake of crossbred Jersey cows under loose housing system. Twenty crossbred Jersey cows were divided into two groups, ten in each. Two types of housing were compared- (i) Existing shed (T₀)- having concrete floor and asbestos roof and (ii) Modified shed (T₁)- facilitated with sand flooring (4-6 inch depth; 38% of the total area) and a thatch ceiling under the asbestos roof. Modified house reduced the stress condition of animals by reducing 5-7 °C roof temperature. It was observed that blood metabolites (blood glucose, blood urea nitrogen, protein, albumin, globulin and uric acid) showed no significant differences except glucose (mg/dl) which was significantly (P<0.01) higher in T₀ (71.50±1.25) as compared to T₁ (65.39±0.94) group. Though there was no significant differences were observed on feed intake (average dry matter (kg), crude protein (kg) and organic matter (kg) intake) by the animals of the two groups but the feed intake was higher in T₁ group. It was concluded that the housing modification through sand bed flooring and thermal insulation had shown significantly lower in blood glucose level and higher feed intake of crossbred Jersey cows by relieving stress conditions and improving micro-climate of shed.