FERMENTATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF MILLET-BASED DIETS FOR WEST AFRICAN DWARF GOATS IN THE SOUTHERN GUINEA SAVANNAH ZONE OF NIGERIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51791/njap.vi.7356Keywords:
Fermentative Characteristics, Gas Production, Digestibility, In-vitro, Millet huskAbstract
The study is to investigate the in vitro fermentation pattern of the diets at inclusion levels of millet husk as feed for ruminants. Five experimental diets were formulated using millet husk as a replacement for wheat bran at graded levels of D1(0%), D2(25%), D3(50%) D4(75%) and D5(100%). The rumen fluid collected from five WAD goats through the suction tube before the morning feed was sieved with four layered cheesecloth and subjected to an in vitro fermentation study.
Incubation was carried out in 120 ml calibrated syringes in three batches at 39 ± 1ºC. The gas production was measured at 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 and 24h. The metabolizable energy, organic matter digestibility and short-chain fatty acids were estimated at 24h incubation. At the end of 24 hours of incubation, 4 mL of NaOH (10 M) was introduced using a 5 mL capacity syringe in a completely randomized design. All the parameters measured and calculated in this study were significantly influenced by the experimental diets. The gas volume produced decreased as the millet husk inclusion
level increased. The OMD values recorded indicate good digestibility of the diets. It is observed that the digestibility and methane production decrease as the inclusion level of millet husk increases. Hence, millet husk could be incorporated in the ruminant diet to mitigate methane emissions.
