PERFORMANCE OF WEST AFRICAN DWARF BUCKS FED DIETS CONTAINING VARYING LEVELS OF SODIUM BICARBONATE

Abstract

Diets rich in concentrates lower rumen pH, diminishing the buffering capacity of the rumen and heightening the likelihood of ruminal acidosis which leads to inefficient nutrient absorption, decreased feed consumption, and ultimately reduced weight gain and animal performance. Hence, 63-day study was conducted to assess the performance of West African Dwarf (WAD) bucks fed diets containing varying levels of sodium bicarbonate. A basal diet was formulated and divided into five portions, and each contained 0.0kg, 0.5kg, 1.00g/kg, 1.50kg, and 2.00kg of NaHCO 3 to 100kg basal diet, thus, designated as Diet 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively. Twenty five (25) West African Dwarf (WAD) goats, were randomly assigned to the five dietary treatments in a Completely Randomized design (CRD). Data obtained were initial weight, daily weight gain, final weight, total weight gain, dry mater intake, feed conversion ratio were subjected to one-way analysis of variance. All performance parameters measured were significant (P< 0.05) except initial weight and dry matter intake (P> 0.05). The values for initial weight, daily weight gain, final weight, total weight, dry matter intake and FCR ranged from 13.05 to 13.17kg, 63.43 to 106.88g/day, 17.00 to 18.50kg, 3.93 to 5.37kg, 550.40 to 604.51g/day and 5.66 to 8.68, respectively. It was concluded that the addition of NaHCO 3 helped improve daily weight gain and enhance the feed conversion ratio of bucks. Goats on diet 5 gave the highest daily weight gain of 5.37 kg and lower feed conversion ratio (5.66) and thereby recommended.