Performance of Tswana Goats Fed Two Levels of Terminalia serecia and Boscia albitrunca as Supplement to Buffel Grass

Abstract

This study was to evaluate the impact of feeding Terminalia serecia and Boscia albitrunca at 2 levels on growth rate and feed intake of Tswana goats. The experiment was conducted at Botswana College of Agriculture farm for 61 days. Fifteen female and 10 castrated yearling male goats were randomly divided into 5 groups of 5 goats (3 female and 2 male) each, using complete randomized design and balancing them according to sex and weight. They were selected from College herd of about 200 Tswana goats based on age and weight. The goats were housed individually in goat units under a common roof made up of corrugated iron sheets with a dwarf wall to allow free ventilation on a concrete floor. The goats were weighed for initial, interim and final weights every month using Avery walk in scale. Buffel grass was given at 400 g to all animals supplemented with 250 g wheat bran. The treatments were as follows; 400 g Terminalia serecia, 800 g Terminalia serecia, 400 g Boscia albitrunca and 800 g Boscia albitrunca were provided to animals on treatments1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively while those in the control group were offered Lucerne as supplement. The browse leaves and twigs were cut and wilted and fed to the goats the following day. Cleaning of the pens and removal of leftovers from the previous day were done before each day�s feeding. Water was made available at all times. The animals were fed T. serecia or B.albitrunca at two levels daily (400 or 800 g).The browse leaves were fed together with buffel grass hay (Cenchrus ciliaris) as basal ration while wheat bran was offered at 250g/day/animal as an energy source. Average Daily body weight Gain (ADG) was obtained by subtracting the initial body weight from the final body weight and dividing by the number of days animals were in the treatment. All data collected were statistically analyzed using ANOVA and Duncan�s new multiple range test was used for mean separation at 5% P level. Results obtained show that there a was significant (p< 0.05) difference in ADG of goats fed Lucerne compared to those on browses. Total intake of dry matter was significantly affected by level and type of supplement. The study shows that goats fed browses as supplement gained weight but lower than goats fed on Lucerne as supplement. Feed conversion of Tswana goats fed browses as a supplement were lower than those fed Lucerne as supplement, showing that Tswana goats cannot utilize these browses as efficiently as they utilize Lucerne.