ABSTRACT

In two separate experiments, the effect of feeding WAD goats total diets comprising three forages and concentrate were evaluated. In the first experiment, three WAD bucks averaging 7.1kg and aged between 6 and 8 months were used to determine nutrient digestibility and apparent nitrogen utilization of Pennisetum purpureum (PP), Calopogonuim mucunoides (CM) and Centrosema puhescens haymeal (CP) in total diets designated as Tl, TT and T3 respectively. The diets were assigned individually to the animals in a 3x3 Latin Square arrangement, while a feeding trial constituted experiment 2. Results showed that PP, CM and CP haymeal contained 89.52, 90.76 and 87.50% dry matter(DM); 10.02, 18.62 and 19.37% crude protein; 23.58. 24.80 and 26.83% CF; 3.76, 3.63 and 2.89% ether extract; 43.36, 52.60 and 48.46% nitrogen free extract; 8.36, 10.82 and 7.74% ash and 1.58, 1.98 and 2.06 MJ/kg energy respectively. Except for DM, all other nutrients evaluated for nutrient digestibility did not differ statistically (P>0.05). Increased protein and energy level was observed in T2 that contained CM haymeal. Diets Tl, T2 and T3 recorded 43.38, 54.74 and 45.79% and 54.36, 64.03 and 54.85 MJ/kgDM for crude protein and energy respectively. The nitrogen utilization study showed that all the parameters measured were statistically unaffected (P>0.05). However, the values for dry matter intake. CP intake, nitrogen intake, N-absorbed, N- balance and N-retention were higher in T2 followed by T3 and Tl: 259.53, 248.13 and 240g/d DMI; 30.58, 28.51 and 27.63g/d CP intake; 4.89. 4.56 and 4.42g/d bl-intake; 2.70, 2.13 and 2.07g/d N-absorbed; 2.48, 2.01 and 1.88g/d N-balance; 51.13, 43.03 and 39.33g/d N-retention, respectively. All the animals were in positive nitrogen balance. In experiment 2, 9 WAD goats averaging 7.8kg at the beginning ofthe experiment were randomly assigned to the 3 dietary treatments in a 56-day feeding trial. Data on growth performance, carcass yield and blood profile of the experimental animals were determined. Only final body weight, total weight gain, average daily gain and feed conversion ratio varied significantly (P<0.05), while data for initial body weight, total feed intake, daily feed intake and feed intake as % of liveweight showed no statistical variance(P>0.05). Liveweight at slaughter, warm carcass weight and dressed percentage were significant (P<0.05) among treatment means. Empty weights recorded 6.63, 7.30 and 7.16kg respectively for Tl, T2 and T3 and they were similar (P>0.05). The effect of treatment on meat cuts as percentage of warm carcass were similar (P>0.05) for leg, ends, shoulder, set, abdominal fat and bone to lean ratio, only loin differed (P<0.05) among treatment means, with values of 17.42, 18.13 and 18.35% recorded for Tl, T2 and T3 respectively. Among the offal/organs, the head, liver, lungs, kidney and tail were affected (P<0.05) by the treatment, while the other portion (skin, empty gut, heart, testis, spleen and feet) of the offal and organ were similar (P>0.05). Packed Cell Volume, Red Blood Cell, Mean Corpuscular Volume, Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin and White Blood Cell were statistically affected (P<0.05) by dietary treatment. The differential counts, Hb and MCHC were all similar (P>0.05). PCV values varied from 32.50% in Tl to 35.67% in T3, while RBC ranged from 8.62 X106/pl in T3 to 9.40 X106/pl in T2 and WBC ranged from 9.20 X103/pl in T2 to 13.33 Xio’/pl in T3.The blood glucose, blood urea and direct bilirubin remained statistically unaffected (P>0.05), while total bilirubin and creatinine differed significantly (P<0.05). The glucose level ranged from 53.19mg/dl in T3 to 56.08mg/dl Tl. Higher blood urea (20mg/dl) was recorded for goats on 1'2 followed by those on Tl (17.67mg/dl) while T3 had the least blood urea value (17.33mg/dl). It could be deduced from the general result that the performance of the WAD goats were enhanced by T2 when compared to other diets. The study has-empbasized the importance of legumes as dry season feed for WAD goat. It is expected that WAD goat production would be greatly enhanced by dry season feeding ofthese legumes.