Abstracto

Nutrient utilization by West African Dwarf (WAD) goats fed selected tree forages and legume.

Ikyume TT, Okwori AI, Tsewua A

Multipurpose tress and legumes could be well thought-out as a more reliable feed resource of high quality forages especially during the dry season. The study was carried out to compare the nutrient utilization of selected tree forages and legume. Five male West Africa Dwarf (WAD) goats, weighing 19 ± 12 kg, were used for this study in a 4*4 Latin Square within a complete randomized design with four treatments comprising Gliricidia sepium (GS), Leucaena leucocephala (LL), Centrosema pubensce (CP), Moringa oleifera (MO) and four experimental periods of 21 days each. Three consecutive periods were separated by 7 days animal rest. Result obtained indicates that ash, crude protein and crude fibre were not significantly (p>0.05) affected by the forage groups. However, significant (p<0.0) differences were observed in dry mater, ether extract, acid detergent fibre, neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent lignin, cellulose and hemi cellulose digestibility among the forage groups, with LL group giving optimum result for digestibility. It is concluded that Leucaena leucocephala (LL) could be used as alternative to other conventional basal diets in order to increase the feed resource base of ruminants.