FEED INTAKE, WEIGHT GAIN AND NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY OF PREGNANT WEST AFRICAN DWARF GOATS FED GUINEA GRASS BASAL DIET AND CASSAVA PEEL AND LEAF MEAL BASED CONCENTRATE
Description
This study evaluated the performance of pregnant WAD goats fed Guinea grass basal diet and cassava peel and leaf meal based concentrate supplement. Twelve (12) West African dwarf goats (does) after their second parity with average weight (19.378 ± 2.30 kg) (mean ± SD) were used. Goats with undesired features such as supernumerary teats, mange, desired characteristics were separated. Three pregnant does were randomly allocated in a completely randomized design (CRD), to the one of the four (4) experimental treatments of Guinea grass basal diets and concentrate supplements at 50 %. The hypothesis was that dietary inclusion of cassava leaves and peels at different levels would or would not affect the performance of pregnant goats.The control (T1) was compounded from conventional feed ingredients (wheat offal, palm kernel cake and other feed ingredients) which are expensive and not easily assessable to the local goat farmers who are in control of a larger population of West African dwarf goats. The other treatments (2, 3 and 4) were compounded by replacing the wheat offal and palm kernel cake with cassava peel meal and cassava leaf meal respectively at graded levels. Cassava peel and leaf meal are high energy and crude protein respectively and values are comparable to those of wheat offal and PKC. The diets were T1 (control), T2 (25 % replacement of wheat offal (WO) and Palm kernel cake (PKC), with cassava peel meal (CPM) and cassava leaf meal (CLM) respectively, T3 (50 % replacement of WO and PKC, with CLM and CPM respectively) and T4 (75 % replacement of WO and PKC, with CLM and CPM respectively). Feed was offered at 50 g DM /Kg BW and water was given ad lib. Feed intake, weight changes, feed conversion ratio, digestibility were monitored for pregnant goats. Dry matter intake from grass likewise concentrate was non – significant across the four treatments. Although, the observed variation was not significant, the total DM intakes of pregnant does fed diets of replacement of WO and PKC with CPM and CLM were higher than that of the control, apart from T2, and the values ranged from 588.60, 555.12, 610.36 and 617.63 g/d for TI, T2, T3 and T4 respectively. The highest weight gain was recorded in pregnant goats fed 50 % replacement of wheat offal and PKC with CPM and CLM (T3), while the lowest was in T4 (75 % replacement with CPM and CLM). Furthermore, the replacement levels in the respective treatments did not affect apparent digestibility of DM (which was above 80 % for the four treatments), CP (which increased non – significantly with increase in CLM content of the diet), EE, NDF, ADF and HMC of the pregnant WAD goats significantly. However, apparent digestibility of ash was significantly lowest in the control and highest in the diets replaced with CPM and CLM. This investigation has shown wheat offal and PKC can be replaced at 25 %, 50 % and 75 %, without negative effect on foetal development and successful gestation.
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The cassava peels for this study were collected from the processing units, rinsed in cold water to remove sand, spread out on polyethylene sheets and then sun dried for 3 - 5 days depending on the intensity of the sun, with daily turnings at regular intervals to prevent fermentation. The dried cassava peels were then crushed and bagged for feed formulation. Similar procedure was used for the cassava leaves while retaining the green colouration. Sixteen (16) mature West African dwarfs (WAD) does were purchased from villages around Benin City, weighed and housed in well bedded individual pens measuring 1 m x 1.5 m each. The animals were quarantined for two weeks after which twelve (12) does were selected based on some phenotypic characteristics (such as the number of teats, skin conditions) for the experiment.WAD goats were selected and dewormed with Albendazole (KEPRO B.V. Holand, 1 mL per 20 kg body weight) and administered with long acting oxytetracycline 200 LA (invesa, Spain, 1 mL per 10 kg body weight). They were also vaccinated against PPR (Pestes des petit ruminante) using using the PPR vaccine, 1 mL per 50 kg BW. The heats/oestruses of the West African dwarf goats were synchronized using 10 mg of medroxy - progesterone acetate tablets orally per animal daily for 14 days (Imasuen and Ikhimoya, 2008) and they were mated. Upon pregnancy confirmation, four diets were compounded to meet 2.1- 2.6 kcal/kg DM (DE) metabolizable energy and 14-18% crude protein (CP) for pregnant goats according to NRC, (1981). The experimental diets consisted of basal diet of Guinea grass (Panicum maximum) and graded levels (0, 25, 50 and 75%) of cassava peel (replacing wheat offal) meal and cassava leaf meal (replacing PKC) based concentrate diets at 50 % supplementation fed ad libitum. Twelve pregnant goats were selected and three were randomly assigned to one of the four dietary treatments. Variables monitored were feed intake, weight changes and nutrient digestibility. The dry matter content of concentrate feeds, Guinea grass and faeces was determined by drying pre-weighed samples at 100°C until constant weights were obtained. Representative samples of the feeds and faeces collected were milled to pass through 1 mm mesh sieve and stored pending the laboratory analysis. Known weights of milled samples in triplicates were used for chemical analysis. The feed and faeces were analyzed for their respective components of crude protein ((N × 6.25), ash, ether extract and OM according to the procedure of AOAC (2000) while the method Van Soest et al. (1991) was used to determine the cell wall components i.e. Acid detergent fiber (ADF), Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and hemicelluloses. Data collected were analyzed using ANOVA in completely randomized design, following the procedure of SAS (2014). Separation of significant differences between the means was done using Duncan New Multiple Range Test of the SAS (2014) software.