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Mar 30, 2024Keywords:
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Main Article Content
Linear Body Parameters, Teat Measurements and Weight of Pregnant of West African Dwarf Goat Fed Cassava Leaf Concentrate Diet
Abstract
A 52-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect of a cassava leaf concentrate diet on linear body measurements, teat morphometric parameters and weight using twenty (20) pregnant West African dwarf (WAD) goats. Cassava leaf concentrate diets were fed at 0, 10, 20, and 30% replacement levels. The goats were equally and randomly allotted to the diets while water and other routine management practices were carried out throughout the study. Liveweight and Linear body parameters data were collected on body length (BL), height of withers (HW), heart girth (HG), rump height (RH), abdominal circumference (AC) and Linear body parameters and weight gain (WG) were collected at two weeks interval. Data on udder parameters (Distance between teat (DBT), Teat circumference (TC) Teat length (TL) and Height of teat from ground (HTG) were collected on every trimester (0, 50, 100 and 150 days) of the pregnancy period. Postpartum data which commenced 4th day of kidding were also collected on dams for 14 weeks of the postpartum period. Results showed that diet had a significant (P<0.05) effect on rump height with 0%, 20% and 30% cassava leaf meal replacement levels having the highest value among the parameters observed. Diet had a significant (P<0.05) effect on distance between teats (DBT) with the highest value recorded for DBT in pregnant Doe on 10% cassava leaf meal replacement. DBT value was the highest in pregnant does fed 30% cassava leaf meal inclusion. A high positive and significant (P<0.05) correlation was obtained among the linear body measurement, weight and udder measurement with the highest correlation recorded between heart girth, weight and abdominal circumference.
