Effect of Week of Lactation and Selected Forage Types on Milk Yield Performance of West African Dwarf Goats

Abstract

Twenty lactating does in their fourth parity, weighing between 15 and 20 kg live weight was used to evaluate the effect of week of lactation and selected forage type performance of West African Dwarf does. Nutrition was based on zero grazing on pasture species comprising of Panicum maximum, Gmelina arborea and Mangifera indica. Hand milking of the does was done at 06 – 07 h once in a week for a period of 8 weeks. The result showed that Week of lactation had significant effect on all parameters tested. The highest milk secretion rate (28.75 ml/hr), milk yield per day (618.18 ml) and does weight to milk ratio were recorded in week 3 while the least was recorded in week 8 of lactation. Milk yield was significantly higher (p<0.01) in WAD does fed Magnifera indica. Average daily milk yield was 555,17, 485.06 and 641.14 ml day^-1 while mean body weight was 20.16, 15.13 and 19.04 kg for WAD does fed Gmelina arborea, Panicum maximum and Magnifera indica respectively. On body weight basis, milk yield was 29.42, 26.75 and 31.33 ml/kg^-1 between day-1 body weight for WAD does fed Panicum maximum, Gmelina arborea and Mangifera indica respectively. Therefore, Mangifera indica could be used as alternative basal diet for West African Dwarf goat.