Feed intake and growth performance of goats fed with Napier grass and oil palm frond supplemented with soya waste

Abstract

The effect of Napier grass and oil palm frond (OPF) supplemented with soya waste on the intake and growth performance of goats was evaluated. Twelve female cross-bred goats (Boer × local) were divided into three groups and randomly assigned to three experimental diets: (1) Napier grass ad libitum (NG), (2) OPF ad libitum (OPF) and (3) Napier grass ad libitum+ OPF ad libitum (NG-OPF). All goats in each group received soya waste at the rate of 1.3% of their body weight (BW). Dry matter intake per kg unit of BW was higher (P < 0.05) in the NG-OPF diet than in the NG or OPF diets. However, the crude protein intake per kg unit of BW was higher (P < 0.05) in the OPF or NG-OPF diet than in the NG diet. Animals on the OPF diet showed a lower (P < 0.05) daily BW gain followed by the animals on the NG and NG-OPF diets, but no variation (P > 0.05) was observed between the animals on the NG and NG-OPF diets. The results showed that the feeding of NG alone or NG-OPF combination to goats could lead to a better growth rate in these animals compared to feeding them with OPF alone.

Keywords:

• feed intake
• growth rate
• Napier grass
• oil palm frond
• soya waste

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation of Malaysia for funding this study under the TF006/2007A project.