Effect of Feeding Different Levels Cajanus Cajan Seeds (pigeon pea) on Performance of Male Goat Kids

Abstract

This research was conducted to study the effect of feeding different levels of Cajanuscajan seeds on feed intake, feed conversion ratio, live weight gain, live body measurement, carcass yield and characteristics of. Thirty five - 4 months male goat kids (13.79 Kg) were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments, each in 7 replicates. In a completely randomized design, ground nut cake was replace by pigeon pea in the diets at replacing levels of A (0), B (5), C (10), D (15) and E (20%).The results indicated that the final body measurements were not affected by the levels of Cajanuscajan seeds as replacement of ground-nut cake ( G.N.C ) but the Animals in group D, which were raised on the diet contained 15% Cajanuscajan seed significantly (P< 0.001) had longer neck length than those in group A, B, C and E. Final live weight, total live weight gain, weekly weight gain and daily weight gain increased significantly (P < 0.01) as the CajanusCajan seeds levels of the diet increased. Total live weight gain showed highly significant (P < 0.01) difference among treatments which was 3.54, 6.04, 6.38, 8.54 and 7.21 kg/head for group A, group B, group C, group D and group E, respectively. Total dry matter intake increased with the increase of Cajanuscajan seeds levels, group D had the highest dry matter intake and final live weight throughout the feeding period while group A had the lowest dry matter intake and final live weight. There were no significant (P>0.01) differences among the animal groups in feed conversion efficiency; but the animals raised on 15% Cajanuscajan seeds in the diet had the best feed conversion ratio (8.03 kg/DMI/kg gain), and the animal raised on 20% groundnut cake and 0% Cajanuscajan seeds in their diet had the lowest feed conversion ratio (20.47 kg/DMI/kg gain). It was concluded from this study that goats can perform well up to 15% incorporation rate of (CajanusCajan) as a substitute to ground-nut cake.