EFFECT OF UREA-MOLASSES MULTINUTRIENTS BLOCK SUPPLEMENTATION ON PERFORMANCE OF WEST AFRICAN DWARF BUCKS FED CASSAVA PEELS

Abstract

The increasing shortage in forage for ruminant feeding, coupled with poor nutrients in crop residues to meet the nutrient requirements of ruminant during dry season and feed scarcity period have created serious challenge in ruminant nutrition. These problems have led to a renewed interest in ruminant nutrition. Hence, this study was conducted to evaluate performance of West African Dwarf (WAD) bucks fed cassava peels and urea-molasses multi-nutrients block (UMMB) supplements. Twenty WAD bucks that weighed 8.33+0.35 kg on average were assigned to each of the five experimental diets that contained cassava peels without UMMB supplement (Treatment 1) and with UMMB containing 0% urea (Treatment 2), 5% urea (Treatment 3), 10% urea (Treatment 4) and 15% urea (Treatment 5), ina completely randomized design (CRD). Results of the study revealed that the dry matter (DM) contents in the urea-molasses multi-nutrients blocks (UMMBs) ranged between 82.53% and 90.62% and the crude protein (CP) of cassava peels (5.35%) is lower compared to CP of UMMBs that ranged from 8.05% to 29.79%. The nutrients intake of the bucks were significantly (P<0.05) influenced by UMMB supplementation. The best dry matter (313.49 g/day) and crude protein (44.6 7 g/day) intakes were observed in bucks fed diet T,, WAD bucks fed diets T, and T, have the average daily weight gain of 39.05 g/day and 30.48 g/day respectively. The bucks fed diet T, converted their feed to flesh (9.44) better than other bucks. Conclusively, the bucks fed diet T, performed better than other bucks hence, urea-molasses multi- nutrients block supplement contained 10% urea can offers a cheap but reliable source of protein for optimum utilisation of cassava peels or other crop residues by goats especially during dry season when quality feeds are scarce.