Performance, Apparent Nutrient Digestibility and Cost Benefit of West African Dwarf Goats Fed Dietary Levels of Moringa oleifera Leaf Meal

Aims: To determine the performance, apparent nutrient digestibility and cost benefit of West African Dwarf goats fed dietary levels of Moringa oleifera leaf meal diets.

Study Design: Completely randomized design and Latin square design.

Place and Duration of Study: At the Sheep and Goat unit of the Teaching and Research farm of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria, between November 2013 and February 2014.

Methodology: 36 West African Dwarf Goats were used for this study. Four diets were formulated such that diets T1, T2, T3 and T4 contain MOLM at 0%, 5%, 10% and 15%, respectively. Other ingredients remained constant for the four diets. The diets were offered to matured goats, which were randomly divided into four (4) groups of 9 goats each, with three goats constituting a replicate in a completely randomized design pattern. Each animal received the designated diet on 3% body weight basis in addition to Panicum maximum.

Results: Results showed that average daily feed intake differed significantly (P<0.05) with goats fed 15% MOLM diets having the highest intake (495.19 g/d). Similarly average daily weight gain was (p<0.05) highest (46.00 g/d) for T4 animals. Average daily dry matter intake also differed significantly (P<0.05) and the values ranged between 395.14 to 448.69 g/day and increased with increasing levels of Moringa oleifera leaf meal. Feed conversion ratio differed significantly (P<0.05) and was however best for T4 animals (10.77). Apparent nutrient digestibility coefficient; dry matter, crude protein, crude fibre, ether extract and ash differed significantly (P<0.05) for the treatment groups with diet T4 having relatively better values. Cost benefit was influenced (p<.0.5) with T4 animals having better income (2.05) on investment.

Conclusions: Diet T4 promoted the best relative performance among the treatment diets and is therefore recommended for production of West African Dwarf goat.