RESPONSE OF WEST AFRICAN DWARF GOATS TO TREATED CORNCOB BASED DIETS

Abstract

1. Feed scarcity during the dry season remains a significant constraint to ruminant livestock production in Nigeria. One of the ways to ease this challenge is to use other feed sources that are not consumed by man but are in abundance. Corncob is one of the feed sources. This study evaluated the response of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats offered diets containing corncob that were treated with caustic soda, wood ash, and urea. Corncob was crushed to 2mm particle size and divided into 4 equal portions, T1 was untreated corncobs which was the control, T was treated with caustic soda at 1litre of caustic 2 soda solution (0.5% concentration) per 1kg of crushed corncobs, T was treated with wood ash, at the 3 dilution rate of 100g of wood ash per 1liter of water per 1kg of crushed corncobs, T was treated with 4 urea solution, with 1litre of urea solution (5% concentration) at 1kg of crushed corncobs. The treated and air-dried corncobs were mixed at 40% with other feed ingredients. Twenty growing WAD goats (initial weight 5.0–8.0 kg) were allocated to the four treatments in a Completely Randomized design. Data was collected on nutrient intake, digestibility, nitrogen utilization, haematological, serum
   biochemical. Treatment means were separated with Dunacn Multiple range Test at 5%significance level. Body weight performance results indicated that goats offered wood ash treated corn cobs diet (T3) had the highest weight gain (1.70 kg) and average daily weight gain (60.85 g/day). Dry matter
   intake was highest in animals offered T2 diet (265.60g/day). Nutrient digestibility coefficients revealed significant differences (P<0.05) among the treatments with. digestibility coefficients for dry matter (89.83%) and crude fibre (90.34%) were highest in animals offered T1 diet, while crude protein
   (97.39%) was highest animals offered T4 diets. Nitrogen utilization was highest in T3, with the nitrogen intake (20.99g) and retention (72.57 %) respectively. Urea-treated goats (T4) exhibited significantly higher packed cell volume (35.99%), hemoglobin concentration (11.99g/dl) and red blood cell count (3.99×10 ), indicating enhanced oxygen-carrying capacity. Serum biochemical 6 analysis showed that animals offered T4 diet has the highest values for the total protein (6.70g/dl), albumin (3.40g/dl), HDL (2.39mmol/l), ALP (264.99u/l) while the animals offered T3 had the highest value for cholesterol (3.04mg/dl), AST(245.99u/l) and LDL(0.84mmol/l) which remained within the acceptable ranges across the treatments, indicating no adverse effects on liver function. The study concluded that chemical treatment of corn cobs, particularly with urea and wood ash, can enhance their nutritional value and improve their utilization by West African Dwarf goats. Urea treatment showed the most promising results in terms of protein enhancement and blood parameters, while wood ash treatment yielded superior growth performance.