Effects of Feeding Graded Levels of Desert Date (Balanites aegyptiaca) Leaves as Supplement to Urea Treated Maize Stover on the Performance of Red Sokoto Goats

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding graded levels of Desert date (Balanites aegyptiaca) leaf forage as supplement to urea treated maize stover on nutrient intake, weight gain, nitrogen retention and rumen parameters of Red Sokoto goats. Sixteen (16) Red Sokoto goats weighing 9.36±0.67 Kg on average were randomly grouped into four and exposed to four dietary treatments: A (control), B (100 g Balanites aegyptiaca), C (200 g Balanites aegyptiaca) and D (300 g Balanites aegyptiaca), with each treatment group having four goats and a goat formed a replicate in a completely randomized design (CRD). The experiment lasted for ten (10) weeks in which there was 2 weeks adaptation period and 8 weeks collection period. p<0.05 was considered as level of significance. Total dry matter (DM) intake increased from 346.53 g/day (control) to 546.87 g/day (treatment D). Supplementation significantly (p<0.05) increased daily weight gains. Treatment D had the highest average daily weight gain (54.29 g/day). Supplementation significantly increased (p<0.05) total nutrient intake for all parameters recorded with treatment D having the highest values. Nitrogen utilization, rumen ammonia concentration and rumen pH significantly increased (p<0.05) with supplementation. According to the finding of this study, supplementing urea treated maize stover with Balanites aegyptiaca greatly improved the performance of the animals and thus, Balanites aegyptiaca is a good protein supplement and should be utilized when feeding goats with low quality basal diets.