The Effect of Supplementation of Gliricidia or Rice Bran on Liveweight Gain, Feed Intake and Digestibility of Kacang Goat Fed Mulato Grass

Abstract

A low liveweight gain of of Kacang goats when given grass as single feed indicated that additional feed is required to increase their gowth performance. This study was done to examine the effect of addition of Gliricidia or rice bran on liveweight gain, feed intake, and feed digestibility of Kacang goat given Mulato (Brachiaria mulato) grass. Twenty four male Kacang goat approximately 13.4±0.6 (SE) kg in initial weight and 10 months of age were housed in individual metabolic pen and allocated to one of three dietary treatments. The experimental design was a completely randomized block design, with 3 treatments and 8 replicates (goats). The treatments were Mulato grass ad libitum (M), M plus Gliricidia (1% W/d, dry matter (DM)) (MG), and M plus rice bran (1% W/d, DM) (MRB). The experiment was run for 8 weeks period (2 and 6 weeks for adaptation and measurement period, respectively) Parameters measured were liveweight gain (LWG), dry matter intake (DMI), and dry matter digestibility (DMD). The result showed that dietary treatment signi cantly affected (P<0.05) LWG, DMI and DMD of Kacang goat Goat given M had lowest LWG, DMI and DMD with value 58 g/d, 2.77 % weight (W)/day (d) and 57.61%, respectively. Goat received MG and MRB had the highest LWG (73 and 76 g/d, respectively), DMI (3.25 and 3.65 %W/d, respectively) and DMD (62.28 and 63.19%, respectively). However, no signi cant difference (P>0.05) between goat received MG and MRB. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that protein or energy contents of the diet dictated growth, feed intake and digestibility of Kacang goat.