Chemical Compositions of Selected Browse Species Used as Goat Feed in Bena-Tsemay district of South Omo, South-Western Ethiopia
Denbela Hidosa and Bizuayehu Ayele
Published: January 04, 2022
DOI: 10.55162/MCMI.2022.01.002
Abstract
The browse species are an important source of nutrients for goats in arid range-land. However, the chemical compositions of browse species used as goat feed in Bena-Tsemay district have not studied and documented for future long-term utilization which target to properly balance their inclusion levels in animal diets. Thus, this study was conducted to assess chemical compositions of selected browse species browsed by goats. The leaves of fourteen browse species samples were collected from range-land and analyzed for chemical compositions in completely randomized block design by using the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) procedures of SAS. The higher (p<0.05) crude protein (CP) (198g/kg, DM) was observed in A. marina leaves, while the lower CP levels (125g/kg, DM) and (126g/kg, DM) were observed in A. tortilis and G. tenax leaves, respectively. The S. birrea leaves had higher (p<0.05) estimated dry matter intake (94.05g/kg, DM), while it was lower (58.57g/kg, DM) for A. tortilis leaves. However, the digestible dry matter (DDM), total digestible nutrients (TDN), relative feed value (RFV) and metablisable energy (ME) values were similar (p<0.05) among the all studied browse plant species. Based on result from this study, it can be concluded that all studied browse plants had high-quality-protein to supplement poor-quality-roughage feeds for enhanced livestock production. Also, it is suggested that future research will consider the supplementation effects of browse plant on animal
performances (meat, milk and growth rate).
Keywords: Crude protein; Digestible dry matter; Dry matter intake; Relative feed value; Metabolizable energy