Growth Performance, Morphometry, And Carcass Characteristics of Goat Fed with Indigofera (Indigofera suffruticosa Mill.) and Super Napier (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach x Pennisetm Glaucoma L.)

Abstract

Developing different levels of pasture combinations in goat diets still needs to be well established. Although many farmers have already practiced introducing different kinds of pasture in the goat grazing habits, fewer are into feeding goats with various levels of Indigofera and super Napier grass. The study was conducted to assess the effect of different Indigofera and super Napier combinations on the growth performance, morphometry, and carcass characteristics of goats. The study was carried out using a Completely Randomized Designed (CRD) with six treatments replicated four times, where Treatments 1 and 6 served as a control. Tukey HSD test carried out a multi-comparison of means among different treatments. Feeding goats with 100% Indigofera, 80% Super Napier + 20% Indigofera and 100% super Napier significantly resulted in better growth performance of goats, specifically on the final weight (16.93kg, 16.68 kg, and 16.57 kg, respectively) live weight change (3.16 kg, 2.90 kg and 2.67 kg, respectively). Sixty percent super Napier + 40% Indigofera combination significantly affects the feed intake (1.71 kg), while 70% super Napier + 30% Indigofera and 60% super Napier + 40% Indigofera significantly influence the feed efficiency of goat (0.60 and 0.76, respectively). One hundred percent Indigofera likewise influenced the chest perimeter (57.20cm), loin eye area (11.66 cm2), gastrointestinal contents (2.90 kg), hot carcass weight (6.72 kg), cold carcass weight (6.45%), pluck weight (0.68 kg), the weight of total trimmable fats (0.33 kg), percentage weight of total trimmable fats (2.02%) and 70% super Napier + 30% Indigofera also has a significant effect on the percentage rib cut with a cooler shrink (7.62%) after 60 days of experimentation. These results recommend 80% SN+20% Indigofera, 70% SN + 30% Indigofera, and 60% SN + 40% Indigofera.