Performance of Lactating West African Dwarf Goats Fed Guinea Grass Basal Diet and Cassava Peel and Leaf Meal Based Concentrate

G.O. Egigba and M.A. Bamikole

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of lactating West African Dwarf (WAD) goats fed guinea grass basal diet and cassava peel and leaf meal based concentrate as energy and protein sources. Materials and Methods: Lactating does were randomly assigned to four (4) treatments in a completely randomized design. The treatments were: T1 (control, 0% replacement), T2 (25% replacement of wheat offal (WO) and Palm kernel cake (PKC), with cassava peel meal (CPM) and cassava leaf meal (CLM), T3 (50% replacement of WO and PKC, with CLM and CPM) and T4 (75% replacement of WO and PKC, with CLM and CPM). Feed was offered (50 g DM kg^–1 BW), in addition to water which was given ad lib. Results: Results showed that dry matter (DM) intake of concentrates was significantly (p<0.05) highest in T3 (818.37 g/day) and the lowest in T4 (698.05 g/day). There was non-significant difference in the average daily weight gain of the animals which varied from 11.43 g/day (T1) to 23.93 g/day (T3). The increased inclusion of CPM and CLM in the concentrate supplement did not significantly (p<0.05) affect the apparent digestibility of DM, CP, neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF), Ash and ether extract (EE). Milk yield varied from 272.50 to 332.18 g /day and different replacement levels of wheat offal and palm kernel cake with CPM and CLM in the respective diets did not influence the nutrient digestibility. Conclusion: Cassava peel meal and cassava leaf meal significantly improved the performance of West African dwarf goats.

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