Effects of supplementing mesquit ( Prosopis juliflora) seedpod meal on the performance of weaner Galla goats in the drylands of Kenya

Abstract

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of increasing amounts of Prosopis juliflora seedpod meal on the growth rate of weaner Galla goats. The overall aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of incorporating Prosopis seedpods into a typical dryland livestock production system. Twenty weaner Galla goats of similar age (6 months) and weights (11-14 kg) were randomly assigned to four treatments of five weaners each. The treatments were T1 No Prosopis (control treatment), T2 (100 g /goat /day Prosopis), T3 (200 g /goat /day Prosopis), and T4 (400g /goat /day Prosopis). Prosopis contained 88.4% dry matter (DM), 18.5% crude protein (CP), 83.2% organic matter (OM), 51.8% neutral detergent fibre (NDF), 29.8% acid detergent fibre and 5.2% Ash. The experiment lasted for 70 days. Overall, all the treatment groups exhibited higher average weekly weight gains than T1 (control) throughout the experimental period. However, for the first 3 weeks, these differences were not statistically significant (P<0.05). From the fifth week on wards, however, the differences in growth rates were statistically significant (P<0.05). Treatment T3 exhibited highest total weight gain (3.96 kg), followed by T4 (2.70kg). Group T1 lost weight by the end of the experiment. This study demonstrated that Prosopis could be used as goats feed up to 200g/goat/day giving good weight gains and no negative effects on feed intakes and digestibility.