ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance and blood profile of West African dwarf (WAD) goats fed complete pelleted ration with graded levels of enzyme. 24 WAD goats with mean initial body weight of 7.02±0.23kg were procured and randomly assigned to four treatment diets (T1, T2, T3 and T4). The treatment diets all had equal composition of feed ingredients except for enzyme levels that was graded from 0 to 0.35g/kgDM. The experimental design was a completely randomized design that lasted for 90 days after a 21 day quarantine period. Data were collected on nutritional profile of the diets, growth performance and haematological parameters of the goats. The results of nutritional profile of the diets shows that they were good enough for intensive goat rearing. The results of growth performance showed that there was significant differences (P<0.05) in total body weight gain (TBWG), average daily weight gain (ADWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) with goats on T4 having the highest  TBWG (5.25kg), highest ADWG (58.3g) and lowest (better) FCR (5.99). There was no significant differences (P>0.05) in haematological parameters across treatments and they were within normal ranges. The study concludes that supplementation of goat ration with exogenous fibrolytic enzyme up to 0.35g/kgDM improves performance in intensively reared goats without adverse effect on haematological parameters.