Growth performance ofWest African Dwarf goats fed boiled dried Gmelina arborea and sun dried Moringa oleifera leaves

Abstract

Sixteen West African dwarf (WAD) goats weighing 5.5kg to 10.7kg were used to determine the growth performance ofWADgoats fed boiled driedGmelina arborea leaves and sundried Moringa oleifera leaves. The goats were allotted randomly into four treatments groups of four animals each having two replicates each in a completely randomized design. Goats in T1 were fed concentrate and Panicum maximum (control diet), in T2 were fed concentrate and boiled dried Gmelina arborea leaves, goats in T3 were fed concentrate and sundried  moringa oleifera leaveswhile goats in T4were fed concentrate andmixture of freshGmelina arborea and freshMoringa oleifera leaves. The experiment lasted for 10 weeks. The animals were weighed on weekly basis throughout the 56 days (8 weeks) of the experiment. Feed intake and weight changes were monitored. Data collected were analyzed using the one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) while the mean were separated using the Duncan multiple range test. The result from this study shows that animals in T4 fed concentratewithmixture of fresh Gmelina arborea leaves and freshMoringa oleifera leaves performed better in respect to feed intake having a record of 2.88 0.008 followed by T1 2.86 0.012 while experimental animals in T2 and T3 had the lowest value 2.69 0.011 and 2.60 0.008 respectively, animals in T4 gained weight while those in T1, T2 and T3 lost weight. The study suggest the use of fresh Gmelina arborea leaves and fresh Moringa oleifera leaves in feeding goats due to the fact that they are efficiently utilized by the animals and their availability even at the peak of dry season.