Feed intake and nutrient digestibility of castrate and non-castrate savannah brown-goats.

摘要

Ten savannah brown goats were investigated for feed intake and nutrient digestibility when fed concentrates and forage diets. The goats were randomly assigned to two treatment groups, each with five replicates consisting of five castrates and five non-castrates. One thousand grams of mixed diets were offered per goat/day. Total daily faecal output of each animal was collected. The total faeces collected was oven-dried at 65 degrees C for 48 h and analyzed for Dry Matter (DM), Crude Protein (CP), Crude Fibre (CF) Ether Extract (EE), ash and Nitrogen Free Extract (NFE). There was a significant (p=0.05) difference between the feed intake of castrates and non-castrates. Castrates had a highly significant (p<0.05) feed intake (1107.1) than non-castrates (l071.2 g). Apparent digestibility coefficient values indicated that castrates had higher values for DM, CP, EE, ASH, NFE and CF though, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between the two group of the experimental animals for C.F. It was concluded that castration of male goats favours feed intake, better feed utilization thus increase in live weight gain. Therefore, castration of surplus male goats not required for breeding programmes will improve their meat potentials.