Abstract

This study aims to evaluate feed intake, nutrient digestibility, and nitrogen retention of post-weaning goat. Four male Saanen crossbred goats at 2.68±0.21 months of age (13.1±0.83 kg) were arranged in a Latin square design with 4 treatments and 4 periods. The study was carried out from May to July 2023 at the experimental farm of An Giang University. Four treatments were four sources of rumen escape protein including cabbage waste (CW), Wedelia trilobata L. (WTL), Operculina turpethum vines (OTV), and Jackfruit leaves (JL). Goats were allowed 10 days for diet adaptation and 4-days for sample collection. The DM intake of experimental goats were affected by the treatments. The DM consumption of the diets were 413, 480, 610, and 740 g/animal/day for CW, WT, OTV, and JL treatments, respectively. The CP intake (g/animal/day) of JL treatment (108 g) was higher (p0.05) OTV treatment (89.7 g). The DM, OM, and CP digestibility were different (p0.05) for the CW, while the higher value was the JL treatment. Daily weight gain tended to be lower in CW and WTL than in OTV and JL treatments. The conclusion was that using the forage sources well for Saanen crossbred postweaning goats from high to low were Jackfruit leaves, Operculina turpethum vines, Wedelia trilobata L., and cabbage waste.

Keywords: small ruminants, feeds, digestibility