Nutritional assay and growth performance of West African dwarf goats fed with fresh, wilted and ensiled cassava leaves-based diet

The study was carried out to evaluate the in vitro digestibility and growth performance of West African dwarf goats fed with fresh cassava leaves + concentrate mixture, wilted cassava leaves + concentrate mixture and ensiled cassava leaves + concentrate mixture. Six goats were allotted to three treatment groups with two goats per treatment for eight weeks in a completely randomized design. Ensiling of the cassava leaves was done for 21 days and wilting of the leaves was done for 2 days on a concrete floor. There were significant differences (p < 0.05) amongst the values of the chemical composition of cassava leaves. Macro and micro mineral profile differed significantly across treatments (p < 0.05) and values were within the normal range for cassava leaves. The results obtained showed significant (p < 0.05) differences on total weight gain across the treatments. Goats fed wilted cassava leaves + concentrate mixture had the highest weight gain. The values for the post in vitro gas production parameters were significantly different (p < 0.05). Ensiled cassava leaves produced the highest methane gas volume (14.67±2.2 ml) during 24 h of incubation, while, wilted cassava leaves recorded the least gas volume (10.00±2.2 ml). Reduction in methane was highest in wilted cassava leaves (20.00±12.8%) and lowest in fresh cassava leaves (20.00±12.8%). The results showed that wilted and ensiled cassava leaves can promote growth performance and will ameliorate the negative impact of methane emission from West African dwarf goats for sustainable livestock production.