Nutritional Evaluation of Graded Levels of Aspergillus-treated Rice Husk on the Performance of Pregnant West African Dwarf Goats

Abstract

Nine pregnant West African dwarf (WAD) goats were fed untreated (control diet A with 30% inclusion level) and Aspergillus treated diet, B (10%) and diet C (20%) in total mixed rations. The effect of treatment was evaluated on feed intake, digestibility, BW and growth rate. Fungus-treated rice husk appeared to be well accepted by goats even when included in rations at 20% of total DM. Mean DM intake averaged 595, 611 and 623gld for goats fed diets A, B and C respectively. The crude protein intake was greatest (P<0.05) for diet C, greater (P<0.05) for diet B than for diet A (control). Body weight change average 0.19, 0.22 and 0.34kg/wk from 0 - 20 wks of experiment for goats fed the untreated and treated fungus rice husk respectively. Dry matter digestibility was similar among treatment groups, averaging 48, 49 and 47 percentages for goats fed untreated and treated rice husk. The digestibility of crude protein and crude fibre were increased by fungus treatment. The increased crude protein and crude fibre digestibility are briefly discussed. The conclusions are that fungus treatment of rice husk mimics the effect of pre-digestion of fungus on the rice husk and as the feeding experiment demonstrated, is likely to be a useful method of processing waste agricultural residues for rumen microbial attack.


Key Words: Rice husk, Aspergillus niger, pregnant goats, performance characteristics.


Int. J. Agric. Rural Dev., 2003, 4: 87-91