Voluntary intake, apparent digestibility and performance of West African dwarf goats fed with leaves of some multi-purpose tree species

The Multi-purpose tree species (MPTS) were sole fed to 16 West African Dwarf (WAD) goats to investigate their optimum DMI and performance. The DMI of 57.40g.kg-1 W0.75 d-1 recorded for Pterocarpus santalinoides (PS) was the highest followed by 56.13, 46.27 and 14.76g.kg-1 W0.75  d-1 for Leucaena leucocephala (LL), Grewia pubescens (GP) and Enterolobium cyclocarpum (EC) respectively. The differences were significantly different (P<0.05). The OMI followed the same trend as DMI. The CPI was highest (12.06g.kg-1 W.0.75d-1) for LL and lowest (3.84g.kg-1 W0.75d-1) for EC. Also, NDF, ADF and Lignin intakes ranged from 5.96 - 27.84, 4.42 - 19.46 and 1.63 - 8.90 g/kg W0.75 d-1 for EC and PS. Similarly, the digestibility coefficients (%) were significant (P<0.05) between the MPTS. DMD ranged from 66.54 in GP to 76.47 in EC. OM, CP, NDF, ADF and Lignin digestibility varied between 62.46-78.03, 70.75-79.64, 65.06-74.34, 56.59-76.45 and 61.33 -78.10 for LL and EC. The best growth performance was recorded for goats on PS being 24.49g.d-1 while goats on EC lost 5.27g.d-1. The nitrogen utilization of all the goats on the MPTS ranged between 65.76-70.92% which reflected no significant difference (P>0.05) between the forage species. Key words: MPTS, Nutrient intake, digestibility, nitrogen retention, performanc