Concentrate supplementations of grazing pregnant Kalahari Red goats: Effects on pregnancy variables, reproductive performance, birth types and weight of kids.

Abstract

A study was conducted for 22weeks to determine the effects of concentrate supplementations at three crude protein (CP) levels, i.e. low protein diet-LPD 12.42% CP (124.93gday-1); medium protein diet-MPD 14.18% CP (145.87gday-1) and high protein diet-HPD 16.35% CP (168.19gday-1) on some pregnancy variables, reproductive performance, birth types and weight of kids kidded by pregnant Kalahari Red goats grazed on Chloris gayana. Thirty-three matured Kalahari Red goats of first parity within age range of 2 to 21/2years with an average body weight of 38.10±1.13kg were randomly allotted to the diets with 11 goats per treatment. Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance in a completely randomised design. It was observed that goats fed HPD had the highest (p<0.05) values for products of pregnancy (10.35kg) taken within 24hour before kidding and foetal growth rate (88.37gday-1) during pregnancy. Goats fed MPD had the lowest values (p<0.05) of 9.28kg and 80.07gday-1 for each of the respective parameters. Afterbirth weight was also the highest and lowest (p<0.05) for goats supplemented with HPD (3.38kg) and MPD (3.04kg), respectively. On the other hand, MPD-supplemented goats had the highest values (p<0.05) for litter size (2.14) and litter weight (6.80kg) at birth, the value which was the least for HPD supplementation. From the results obtained from this study, it could be concluded that concentrate diet supplementation with 14.18% CP improved litter size and weight at birth with resultant reduction in weights of pregnancy variables of pregnant Kalahari Red goats grazed on Rhodes grass.