SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCES, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES, ARBA MINCH UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE

Abstract

The experiment was conducted with the aim of investigating fodder yields of Dendrocalamus giganteus, Balanites aegyptiaca and Terminalia brownii, its supplement effect on intake, growth performance and economic feasibility of Woito-Guji goats fed hay as basal diet. Twenty yearling bucks with initial body weight of 15.67 ± 0.24 kg (Mean ± SE) were used in the study. The fodder trees of the experiment were selected purposively. The leaf yield of the trees were assessed based on uniformity in height, diameter at breast height as well as year of planting based on available information. The experiment was used four dietary treatments with five animals in each treatment. This included hay plus 20% of concentrate mixture DM per day per head for control (T1) and additionally supplementing with 30% DM per head per day D. giganteus, B. aegyptiaca and T. brownii for T2, T3 and T4, respectively. A completely randomized design in five replications used in experiment. The animals were grouped to five body weight categories and randomly assigned to one of the four treatment diets. After adaptation to the pen and experimental diet the feeding trial was conducted for 90 days. Feed offered, refusal and BW were recorded. Respective samples of diets, and refusals were analyzed for chemical composition. The fodder tree yield was also evaluated. The crude protein (CP) content were 7.1%, 12.13%, 11.19% and 13.19% for hay, D. giganteus, B. aegyptiaca and T. brownii respectively. Goats basal DM intake (g/day) was highest (p<0.05) in T1 (635.09) as compared to T2 (355.82), T3 (395.68) and T4 (435.54). However, total DM intake (g/day) was higher for goats in T3 (806.62) and T4 (887.36) while the later was not significantly different from T1. Supplementation significantly (P<0.05) improved digestibility coefficient of DM, organic matter (OM) and CP. Average daily gain (ADG), final body weight (FBW) and feed conversion efficiency (FCE) was the highest (P<0.05) in supplement treatment except T2. Goats supplemented with T4 had significantly higher (P<0.05) FBW (24.5 kg), ADG (92 g/day) and FCE (0.1). T. brownii leaf was the highest potential to supply IVDMD (48.43%) and IVOMD (56.39%) for ruminants. Minerals contents of the supplement feeds were adequate except Zn which was below recommended level. Fodder yield was 25.92 kg DM/culm for D. giganteus, 19.60 kg DM/tree for B. aegyptiaca and 22.53 kg DM/tree for T. brownie. The highest marginal rate of return (ETB) observed for T2 (0.56), T3 (1.27) and T4 (6.52). Treatment 4 had also the highest economic profitable compared to the other supplemented treatments. Thus, it can be concluded that supplementation of goats with fodder trees in area where it available could perform the highest economic return compared to feeding animal in sole basal haydiet