Nutrient utilization and growth performance of West African Dwarf goats fed with elephant grass or different proportions of plantain and mango peels

Abstract

Eighteen West African dwarf goats balanced for weight (6.00±0.57 kg) were fed with elephant grass and
different proportions of dried plantain with mango peels to evaluate their intake, growth rate, nitrogen and
energy utilization. Goats were assigned to three dietary treatments in a completely randomized design with
six goats per treatment. The compared dietary treatments were as follows; TA (elephant grass and
concentrate in a ratio of 63:32), TB and TC (combination of dried plantain with mango peels and
concentrates in a ratio of 55:13:32 and 50:18:32 respectively). The results showed that TA was significantly
(P<0.05) best in crude fibre intake (67.51 g/day), neutral and acid detergent fibre intake (49.01 and 29.58
g/day), urinary nitrogen output 3.62 g/day), faecal and total energy output (185.25 and 220.45 Kcal/g/day).
Ether extract intake (9.92g/day) was significantly (P<0.05) highest in TB compared to TA and TC. The total
(23970 g) and daily (285.36 g/day) feed intake, average daily feed intake (15.83 g/day), final body weight
(9384.00 g), daily weight gain (33.67 g and 13.98 BW0.75 ), nitrogen intake (21.75g/day), faecal nitrogen output
(10.09 g/day), nitrogen balance (9.37 g/day and 5.36 BW0.75 ), nitrogen retention (0.43 g/day and 43.08%),
gross energy intake (1896.02 Kcal/g/day), digestible energy intake (90.59 Kcal/g/day) and metabolizable
energy intake (82.21 Kcal/g/day and 27.30 BW0.75 ) were highest in TC and significantly differed from the
other treatments. Significant differences (P>0.05) did not occur in organic matter intake, feed conversion
ratio, metabolizability and ME:DE ratio among the treatment groups. It is concluded that dried plantain with
mango peels and concentrate in a ratio of 50:18:32 has the potential to enhance nutrient utilization and
growth performance of West African dwarf goats.