Variations in liveweight gains, milk yield and composition of Red Sokoto goats fed crop-residue based supplements in the subhumid zone of Nigeria

Variations in weight gain, milk yield, milk composition, nutrient intake and digestibility of Red Sokoto goats supplemented with crop-residue based rations during the long-dry period were investigated. Ration A, the conventional concentrate ration, was used as the positive control, Rations B and C were the two crop-residue test diets, while Ration D the unsupplemented treatment, was used as the negative control. Each of the supplementation rations was fed at 1 and 2% of the goats body weight (designated as 1A, 2A, 1B, 2B and 1C, 2C respectively). The supplemented group of goats had significantly higher (P<0.05) dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) intakes as well as nutrient digestibilities than the unsupplemented groups. DM digestibility improved with supplementation by a range of 4.1 to 27.9%, while CP digestibility improved by 17.1 to 42.2%, the highest value being in does on Ration A. It was evident that supplementation significantly (P<0.01) influenced weight gains and milk yield of dams. Goats on ration 2C recorded the highest average daily gains of 39.29 g/day while their counterparts fed rations 1B and D lost 28.57 and 92.86 g/day respectively. Ration 1C which comprised mainly of crop residue with much lesser protein levels than the concentrate ration, produced 54 kg of milk over a 90-day lactation period averaging 0.60 kg per day. Goats on Ration D had the shortest lactation length of 41 days and the least total and average daily milk yields of 10.2 and 0.25 kg respectively. Milk from does on ration 2A contained the highest percentages of fat (6%), protein (6.33%), total solids (21.85%) and solids-not-fat (15.85%). Milk from goats on ration D ranked least with respect to all parameters studied. It was concluded that the goats made appreciable gains in the long dry season on crop-residue based diets that compared favourably with the conventional concentrate rations. Ration C fed at 1% level was a good supplementary feed package for increased liveweight gai