Abstract
Productive and physiological characteristics of West African dwarf goats fed cassava root sieviate-cassava leaf meal based diet
Highlights
Goats (Capra hircus) are unique ruminants owing to their ability to meet their nutritional requirements because of their moveable mandibles and ability to stand with their hind limbs which enables them to browse the most nutritious plant parts and even from thorn bushes and high tree branches
The study revealed that cassava root sievate – cassava leaf meal (CRSCLM) in the diet of West African dwarf (WAD) goats had no deleterious effect on the growth performance and blood indices of WAD goats and could be included in goat diets up to 60%
The dry matter content (DM), crude fibre (CF) and gross energy of the experimental diets tend to increase with increasing levels of CRSCLM while crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) decreased with increasing levels of CRSCLM
Summary
Goats (Capra hircus) are unique ruminants owing to their ability to meet their nutritional requirements because of their moveable mandibles and ability to stand with their hind limbs which enables them to browse the most nutritious plant parts and even from thorn bushes and high tree branches. This breed is one of the dominant breeds of goat in West Africa as a meat animal but known as Nigerian dwarf goat in USA where it ranks fifth as a dairy breed; explaining its universal importance They are trypanotolerant and widely distributed across the rainforest and derived Savannah zones of Nigeria (Ahamefule et al, 2005) where it makes significant contribution to the livelihoods of most families and the country at large. The WAD goat is the dominant breed of small ruminants found in West Africa where they are raised under small holder management system (Jiwuba et al, 2017) Regardless of these advantages, the production of this indigenous breed of goat with great potentials is hampered due to high cost of feed and poor nutrient intake as a result of seasonal variations.
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