EFFECT OF THREE TROPICAL BROWSE PLANTS ON PRODUCTIVITY OF WEST AFRICAN DWARF GOATS IN THE NORTHERN GUINEA SAVANNAH OF NIGERIA

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of feeding tropical browse plants on the productivity of West African Dwarf goats. A total of twelve young growing West African Dwarf (WAD) goats (all bucks) aged between 5-6 months with an average initial body weight of 10.74 kg were used for the experiment. The animals were allotted to four treatments which were freshly harvested Gmelina arborea, Leucaena leucocephala, Grilicidia sepium and control which consist of mixture of grasses (Pennisetum pedicellatum, Andropogon gayanus, Seteriaanceps, Panicum maximum and Eleusineindica). The performance of goats were observed on weekly basis from weeks I to 6 which showed significant (P<0.05) variations in final body weight, body weight gain, daily weight gain and FCR. Feed intake and body weight gain were at highest peak in week 6 for goats fed with Gmelina arborea, although FCR was better in Gliricidia sepium at week 6. The combined analysis study shows that feeding Leucaena leucocephala gave the highest weight gain of 1.76 kg/head and the best feed conversion ratio of 4.41,respectively which were significantly (P<0.05) different from other varieties of browse plants fed to goats and the control feed. The result obtained also showed that West African Dwarf goats can successfully be raised solely on tropical browse plants or mixture of grasses (control) for improved performance and provide ameans of sustenance for the animals during the period of feed scarcity. It is therefore recommended that browse plants be propagated and used as supplementary feeds in feeding ruminant animals.