Chemical Composition and Supplemental Effects of Levels of Euphorbia Tirucalli and Acacia Albida Pods on Feed Intake of Goats

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to evaluate supplemental value of mixtures of different levels of Euphorbia tirucalli (EUt)) and Acacia albida pods (AAp) on feed intake and body weight change using twenty-five intact Abergelle goats with initial body weight (BW) of 13.9 ± 1.15 (mean ± SD). Randomized complete block design with 5 blocks were employed for the study and animals were blocked based on their initial BW. Treatments were natural pasture hay fed ad libtum alone (T1) or with 210 g/day AAp (T2), 210 g/day EUt (T5) or 140 AAp + 70 EUt g/day (T3) and 70 AAp +140 EUt g/day (T4). All animals were offered 52 g dry matter (DM)/day sesame cake. Drinking water and mineralized salt block were available free choice. The experiment had 90 days feeding time. The CP content of the AAp, EUt and hay was 17.8%, 7.4% and 7.3%., respectively. Goats in T1 consumed higher (P < 0.05) natural pasture hay (433.7 g/day) compared to the supplemented groups (321.7, 319, 315.5 and 315.9 g /day) for T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively. Higher (P < 0.05) total DM intake of 561.4, 565.4, 540.9 and 531 g/day for T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively were recorded than T1 (486.5 g/day). CP intake was the lowest for T1 and increased with increasing level of AAp in diet of supplemented goats (52, 77, 71, 62 and 56 g/day). Therefore, it is concluded that AAp supplementation has better impact as compared to the sole EUt supplemented goats. Key words: Acacia albida, Euphorbia tirucalli, Goat and intake.