PERFORMANCE OF RED SOKOTO GOATS FED YAM PEEL MEAL

Abstract

The study was aimed at evaluating the performance of Red Sokoto Goats fed varying levels of Yam Peel Meal (YPM) diet. Yam Peels were collected from different restaurants and dried for 3-4days. Twelve (18) bucks with average weight of 11.66kg were randomly assigned into three treatment diets containing YPM at 0%, 50% and 75% inclusion levels with 6 bucks per treatment in a completely randomized design (CRD). The experiment lasted for 8 weeks. Results shows that proximate composition of the experimental diets showed crude protein percentage between 14.00-15.12% and the level of ether extract values decreases with increased yam peel meal inclusion level. Ash of the diets (T2 and T3) were more than that of the control diet (T1) which shows that the diets containing yam peel meal supplied more minerals to the animals than the control diet. Growth and feed intake did not indicate any statistical variance (p<0.05) among treatments. However, goats on diet T2 (50%) were statistically higher in terms of weight gain (5.00g/day). The average daily weight gain values ranged between 3.57 and 5.00g/day. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) values ranged from 6.75 to 8.96%. Yam Peel Meal can be used to replace maize offal up to 50% without adverse effect on the growth performance of Red Sokoto Goats.