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EVALUATION OF SOME SEMI-ARID BROWSE FORAGES AS FODDER FOR RUMINANT LIVESTOCK


A.A. Njidda

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the feed of an indigenous browse plats is Borno State of Nigeria.
Sixteen bucks of mixed breeds (Borno white x Sokoto red) weighing an average of 12.0 +0.31kg was divided into
four groups with four animals per group. Each group was randomly assigned to one of the four dietary treatments
in a Latin Square Design (LSD). The diets compared were Acacia nilotica, Balanite aegyptiaca, Khaya
senegalensis and Ziziphus muaritiana. The results showed that the average daily gain (ADWG), dry matter intake,
per metabolic weight (0.07kg day-1, 641.37kg day-1, 74.58g day-1) and feed conversion ratio (0.12) were
significantly (p<0.05) better with animals on diet T (Ziziphus mauritianna). The result also revealed that T had 4 3
the best in terms of feed cost per kg gain (N60.49), and percent reduction in feed cost (N53.04%). From the results,
it can be concluded that feeding of Ziziphus mauritiana to growing goats at 30% level of inclusion is beneficial.


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