Growth performance and rumen fermentation characteristics of West African Dwarf bucks fed dietary Cochlospermum planchonii rhizome

A study was conducted to investigate the optimum inclusion level of Cochlospermum planchonii in diets of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats. Twenty five (25) WAD bucks aged 6 to 8 months and assigned to five treatments (T1- T5) of five goats each were used. Goats in T1 were given normal diet and served as the control, while those in T2, T3, T4 and T5 were respectively given diets with inclusion levels of 5, 10, 20 and 40% C. planchonii. Feed intake, body weight (BWT) and body condition score (BCS) were evaluated weekly from day 0 (D0) to D84, while rumen pH, rumen ammonia, urinary and faecal nitrogen were assessed on D84. The total forage intake across the treatments was comparable (p> 0.05), but the total concentrate intake by T5 (12.1 ± 0.8 kg) was significantly (p < 0.05) lower than the rest of the treatments. Supplementation of C. planchonii was associated with enhanced weight gain among the supplemented groups. The rumen pH of T4 and T5 were 6.2 ± 0.04 and 6.1 ± 0.1 respectively and these were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than those of T1 (5.8 ± 0.1), T2 (5.7 ± 0.1) and T3 (5.6 ± 0.1), 6 h post feeding. At 12 h post feeding, the pH of T5 was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than the rest of the treatments, while at 18 h post feeding, there was no significant difference in the rumen pH of all the treatments. The mean total volatile fatty acid produced by T1 (59 ± 8.9) was significantly (p< 0.05) higher than that of T5 (37. 8 ± 6.3). It was therefore, concluded that supplementation of C. planchonii in diets of West African Dwarf goats up to 20% could exert beneficial effects on their productivity.