RUMEN FERMENTATIONS AND RUMEN CILIATE PROTOZOA OF GOAT KIDS FED DIETS WITH DIFFERENT CONCENTRATE: ROUGHAGE RATIO

A growth trail was carried out to determine the effect of feeding rations with different levels of concentrate: roughage ratio on rumen development through examining the rumen fermentation and the identification and density of rumen ciliate protozoa for sequence five months. Eighteen early weaned Balady male goats with an average live body weight about 7.58 kg at 60 days age were randomly allocated in three groups (6 lambs each) according to body weight. The three groups were fed starter pelleted consists of different concentrate: roughage ratios (T1; 90:10, T2; 80:20 and T3; 70:30). Results showedthat rumen parameters concentration and ruminal ciliate protozoa count were significantly increased (P≤0.01) from the age of 8 weeks till the age of 24 weeks. Also, the data indicated that ruminal pH values and ruminal ciliate protozoa count were higher (P≤0.01) before feeding then it decreased at 3 hours post feeding followed by gradually increased, although total volatile fatty acids, ammonia nitrogen, non-protein nitrogen, total nitrogen and true protein nitrogen concentrations reached the highest (P≤0.01) value at 3hr post-feeding then decreased gradually. Seven species of ruminal protozoa were identified in this study, Entodinum spp was the most dominant specie. Comparison among the three experimental treatments showed that T3 had the highest (P≤0.01) concentrations of rumen parameters and ruminal ciliate protozoa count during the whole period followed by T2, while T1 had the lowest (P≤0.01) values. So we recommended involving high roughage ratio in goat kids feeding.