Performance of crossbred goat kids fed with diets varying in concentrate-to-forage ratio: intake, nutrient utilization, enteric methane emission and body weight changes

ABSTRACT

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of isonitrogenous diets varying in concentrate-to-forage ratio on enteric methane (CH₄) emission, nutrient utilization and growth performance in crossbred goat kids. Fifteen Alpine and Beetal crossbred (AxB) kids (3–4 months age) were divided into three groups based on average body weight and treatments were assigned to the three groups randomly. The first group (GP-I) received a total mixed ration (TMR) containing concentrate mixture and berseem fodder in the ratio of 70:30. The TMR of the second (GP-II) and third (GP-III) groups consisted of concentrate mixture and berseem fodder in the ratio of 50:50 and 20:80, respectively. The results of 90 days feeding experiment revealed that the intake of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in GP-I than GP-II and GP-III. Digestibility coefficients of DM and CP were unaffected by the treatments, however neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) digestibility increased significantly in GP-II and GP-III compared to GP-I. The emission of enteric CH₄ reduced (p < 0.05) by 34.18% in GP-I in contrast to GP-III. Average daily gain (ADG) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in GP-I (115.99 g/day) compared to GP-II (80.94 g/day) and GP-III (77.42 g/day), however the feed efficiency remained unaltered. It was concluded that increased level of concentrate in TMR reduced methane emission and impacted the growth performance positively in crossbred goat kids.

KEYWORDS:

• Total mixed ration
• growth performance
• methane emission
• crossbred goat kids

Acknowledgements

Authors express their gratitude to the Ministry of Environment and Forest, India for providing necessary funds and ICAR – NDRI, Karnal for offering research facilities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Govt. of India [1008190].