EVALUATION OF DRY MATTER AND NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY

ABSTRACT

A study was carried out to determine the dry matter and nutrient digestibility of WAD goat fed guinea grass and concentrate. The animals were fed three (3) concentrate diets. T1 without lemon grass powder (LGP), T2 with 5 % LGP and T3 with 10 % LGP. The chemical composition and cell wall components of the grass and concentrate was determined. The experiment was conducted at the university of Benin Farm Project using 15WAD does with average weight of 6.142 kg using a completely randomized design. The experiment was for a period 91 days. The DM ranged from 29.78 – 97.48 %. The CP ranged from 14.12 – 18.11 % and exceeded the critical level recommended. There was no significant difference between the CP of T1, T2 and T3. NDF was within the range of 32.31 – 54.7 % and ADF ranged from 12.12 – 34.52 %. Significant difference did not occur in the ADF and NDF contents of T1, T2 and T3. The EE ranged from 5.40 – 20.34 %. The EE was higher in T2, T3 and LGP than T1. There was still no significant difference between them. Significant difference was only observed between T2 and Guinea grass (GG). Ash ranged from 4.91 – 11.11 %. There were significant differences between the ash content of GG and T1, T2, T3 and LGP. There was no significant difference between ash content of T2 and LGP. CF of GG and LGP were significantly higher than that of T1, T2 and T3. NFE ranged from 20.18 – 50.36 %. No significant difference occurred between T1, T2 and T3. Significant difference was observed between GG and the others.