Abstract

This study aimed to determine the effects of rice distillers’ by-product (RDB) levels in the diets on feed intake, nutrient digestibility, and nitrogen retention of female Bach Thao goats. Four goats at approximately 5 months of age and 12.0±1.84 kg live weight. A Latin square design experiment was conducted with 4 treatments and four periods (21 days/period). Four treatments were 5, 10, 15, and 20% (%DM) corresponding to RDB5, RDB10, RDB15, and RDB20, respectively.

The result showed that DMI/BW (%) gradually increased from 3.21 to 3.35, 3.60 and 3.56 corresponding to RDB5, RDB10, RDB15, and RDB20, respectively. The metabolizable energy intake of RDB15 was higher than (pp>0.05) among treatments. However, the daily weight gain (g/per/day) had a gradually increased trend (p>0.05) from RDB5 to RDB15 and decreased at RDB20 (121- 176, and 143 g/per/day, respectively).

It was concluded that increasing RDB from 5 to 20% in diets improved feed and nutrient intake, nutrient digestibility, and daily weight gain of goats. A level of 15% RDB in the diet could be promising in the application for female Bach Thao goats from 5 to 8 months of age.

Keywords: rice distillers’ by-product, digestibility, goat