Rumen Fermentation Characteristics and Microbial Counts of West African Dwarf Goats Fed Cassava Peel-based Ration Supplemented with enzymes

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Rumen Fermentation Characteristics and Microbial Counts of West African Dwarf Goats Fed Cassava Peel-based Ration Supplemented with enzymes

JAFE Vol. 10(4): 39-46, 2023
Rumen Fermentation Characteristics and Microbial Counts of West African Dwarf Goats Fed
Cassava Peel-based Ration Supplemented with Enzymes
Omunizua, C.J., Bratte, L. and Okpara, O.
The study was conducted to evaluate rumen fermentation characteristics and microbial counts of West African
Dwarf (WAD) goats fed cassava peel-based rations supplemented with three different fibrolytic enzymes. A total
of 48 WAD goats, weighing approximately 6.55±0.09, were procured and quarantined for 21 days after which they
were randomly allocated to eight treatment groups, based on a 2 x 4 factorial experimental in a completely
randomized design. The two factors were sex (buck and doe) and experimental diet (D1, D2, D3 and D4). All the
treatment diets had equal composition of feed ingredients except for type of enzyme added. D1 contained no
enzyme (control); D2 contained protease, phytase xylanase and mannanase; D3 had beta-glucanase, cellulase and
xylanase); and D4 had beta-glucanase, cellulase and xylanase). The feeding trial lasted for 90 days. Data were
collected on rumen fermentation characteristics and microbial counts. The results showed that experimental diet
had significant effects (P<0.05) on the values of total volatile fatty acids (TVFAs), bacterial and fungal counts with
goats on D4 having the highest TVFAs (89.13 mM/100ml), and bacterial (6.13 x 106 cfu/ml) and fungal (0.66 x
(11.93kg) counts. The study concluded that feeding goats with cassava peel-based rations supplemented with
feed enzymes resulted in improved rumen ecology, with bucks performing better than does. Diet 4 [containing
beta-glucanase (6,157 U/g), cellulase (2,222 U/g) and xylanase (23,222 U/g)] gave the best results followed by
Diet 3 (containing beta-glucanase, cellulase and xylanase) and then Diet 2 (containing protease, phytase, xylanae,
mannanase and amylase). The least result was obtained from Diet 1 (the control diet containing no enzyme).
Keywords:cassava peels, elephant grass, fibrolytic enzyme, rumen fermentation, rumen microbial counts
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