Chemical Composition, Dry Matter Intake by West African Dwarf Goats and In Vitro Digestibility of Panicum maximum and Palm Kernel Cake Mixtures

The experiment was conducted to determine dry matter intake (DMI) by West African dwarf (WAD) goats, chemical composition, in vitro gas production and dry matter digestibility of Panicum maximum (common name: Guinea grass or Panicum) with graded levels of palm kernel cake (PKC). Five diets were evaluated: Treatment 1 (100% Panicum), Treatment 2 (75% Panicum plus 25% PKC), Treatment 3 (50% Panicum plus 50% PKC), Treatment 4 (25% Panicum plus 75% PKC), and Treatment 5 (100% PKC). Treatments 1 to 4 were offered to 16 goats at random with four goats per treatment in a 14-d experiment (7-d adaptation and 7-d data collection periods). Proximate composition, feed intake and in vitro gas and methane production were determined. No significant differences (P > 0.05) in dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) contents while, acid detergent fibre (ADF) and ash contents varied (P < 0.05) amongst treatments ranging from 37% to 47% (43 ± 1.5%) and from 3.0 to 7.0% (5 ± 0.5%), respectively. Also, Treatment 1 recorded the highest daily DMI (781 g/day) while, Treatment 4 gave the least DMI (485 g/day). Also, Treatment 3 gave the highest (P < 0.05) gas production rate (0.0053%/h), methane production (17.0 mL/200 mg DM), in vitro DM digestibility (43 g/100 g DM) and effective gas production (42.2 mL/200 mg DM) while, Treatments 1 and 2 gave the least methane gas production (12 mL/200 mg DM). Based on observed parameters, diet with 75% Panicum plus 25% PKC appears optimum.Key words: Chemical composition, dry matter intake, gas production, palm kernel cake, supplementation, WAD goat