Assessment of ensiled Pearl millet stover with or without legumes stover for quality and acceptability by West African dwarf goat

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate ensiled millet stover with or without legumes stover for quality and acceptability by West African dwarf goats.  The materials (millet stover and legumes stover) were ensiled for 90 days in bag silo. There were five silage treatments: A (100% Pearl Millet stover only), B (80% Pearl Millet stover + 20% Groundnut stover), C (80% Pearl Millet stover + 20% Bambaranut stover), D (80% Pearl Millet stover + 20% Soybean stover), E (80% Pearl Millet stover + 20% Cajan cajanus stover) with four replicates each. Acceptability studies was done using eight (8)  female West African dwarf goats of average weight of 8-12kg. Results of physical characteristics of ensiled pearl millet stover with or without legumes produced good quality silages with greenish yellow colour, firm texture and good aroma (fruity and pleasant). Coefficient of preference  (CoP) indicates that 100% ensiled pearl millet stover was highly preferred, followed by ensiled pearl millet stover with bambaranut stover by WAD goats with CoP values of 1.08 and 1.02, respectively. However, daily mean consumption (g/day) suggested that with time the goats would get use to other silage types. The CP contents of the silage types ranged significantly (P<0.05) from A silage (11.50%) to D silage (14.08%). The pH,  temperature, moisture and DM values were similar (P>0.05) across the treatments. The silage pH and temperature (0C) values however, ranged from 3.70 to 3.83 and 25.75 to 26.75oC, respectively. Moisture content ranged from A silage (63.90%) to E silage (67.28%) and dry matter (DM) from E  silage (32.71%) to A silage (36.60%). It was observed that all the silage types preserved well and legumes stover improved CP content of ensiled millet stover significantly. Therefore, the various silage from this study could be used for feeding ruminants, since CP contents were above 7%  threshold recommended for ruminants.

Keywords: Pearl Millet stover, legumes stover, acceptability, dwarf goat, crude protein.