Tropentag, September 19 - 21, 2012 in Göttingen "Resilience of agricultural systems against crises"

Reproductive Performance of West African Dwarf Goat Fed with Moringa oleifera

Obafemi Awolowo University, Dept. of Animal Sciences, Nigeria

Abstract

The study evaluated the reproductive performance of West African Dwarf (WAD) does fed with Moringa oleifera and Gliricidia sepium as inadequate nutrition undermines ruminants in representing their full genetic potential. A total of thirty WAD goats, consisting of twenty-five matured does and five bucks were used for this study. Using a balanced randomised design, the does were divided into five experimental treatments based on the feed combination ratio (i.e. 100:0 (T1), 75:25 (T2), 50:50 (T3), 25:75 (T4), 0:100 (T5) of G. sepium and M. oleifera respectively). Each treatment had five does as replicates with an average weight of 12kg. We observed that crude protein intake (CPI) by does' was greatly influenced by levels of M. oleifera in their diets. This invariably enhanced the conception rate of does and Average weaning weight of kids (offspring) in treatments with higher level of M. oleifera. Does fed with the highest level of M. oleifera had 100% conception, with conception rate decreasing as M. oleifera level decreases. Highest weaning weight of 4.98kg was recorded for kids from the does fed 100% M. oleifera after three months. Gestation length in does, litter size at parturition, birth weight of kids and milk uptake, among other reproductive traits assessed, were not significantly different between the treatment groups. However, the average birth weight of kids from does fed high level of M. oleifera was 300 g higher than their counterparts with ≤25% M. oleifera inclusion. This indicates that improved conception rate, birth weight and weaning weight of kids can be achieved by including high levels of M. oleifera in the diets of WAD does.

Keywords: Browse plant, estrus synchronisation, nutrition, productivity, prolificacy

Contact Address: Folasade Adeboyejo, Obafemi Awolowo University, Dept. of Animal Sciences, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, e-mail: talk2edasyahoo.com