Abstract
A feeding trial was carried out for 60 days with 40 growing West African Dwarf (WAD) bucks aged 5 - 7 months with an initial weight of 5.25 kg±0.35 to determine their performance characteristics. The goats were randomly allocated to five treatments, each treatment had eight replicates. The experimental diets were compounded such that Diet T1 had 100% urea treated cassava peel. T2 60% untreated cassava peel, 40% cassava foliage. T3 60% untreated cassava peel, 40% poultry manure, T4 60% untreated cassava peel, 20% cassava foliage and 20% treated cassava peel. T5 60% untreated cassava peel, 20% cassava foliage, 20% poultry manure. The average live weight gain was significant (P< 0.05) across the treatment groups with T1 having higher value. Average daily weight gain ranged between 19.59 and 20.30(g/d) with T1 showing significantly (P< 0.05) higher value than other treatment groups. Feed conversion ratio was also best with Diet T1. It can be concluded that urea treated cassava peels enhanced better performance of growing WAD goats in the tropics especially in dry season when there is decline of natural herbage.
Highlights
Livestock production is an important venture in the economy of developing countries
This study evaluated the performance characteristics of growing goats fed cassava peel treated with different nitrogen sources
The gross and proximate compositions of supplementary diets are shown in Table 2.The organic matter (OM) content of the concentrate supplements ranged between 94.23 and 95.18% while the crude protein values vary from 9.95% to 11.89%
Summary
Livestock production is an important venture in the economy of developing countries. Goats play an important role in the livelihood of small scale farmers as a major component of livestock mixed farming systems, which produce meat, milk, skin, fibre, and manure to large number of low income earners [1]. This study evaluated the performance characteristics of growing goats fed cassava peel treated with different nitrogen sources. This experiment was conducted at the Sheep and Goat Unit of the Teaching and Research Farm of Kogi State University, Anyigba in accordance with the Institution’s animal ethical committee guideline.
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