Supplementations of Hyparrhenia rufa -dominated hay with groundnut cake- wheat bran mix: effects on feed intake, digestibility and nitrogen balance of Somali goats.

A digestibility and nitrogen (N) balance experiment was conducted using twenty yearling male Somali goats weighing 23.4 +/- 2.02 (mean+/-SD). The objectives of the study were to evaluate the effects of supplementation with graded levels of mixture of groundnut cake and wheat bran at a ratio of 3:1 on DM basis on feed intake, apparent digestibility and N balance in Somali goats. The experimental design was a completely randomized design consisting of five animals in each treatment. The dietary treatments included ad libitum feeding of hay (T1, control), and daily supplementation with 200 (T2, low) 300 (T3, medium) and 400 g DM (T4, high) of the concentrate mix. Increased level of supplementation reduced (P < 0.001) daily hay DM intake. Digestibility of crude protein (CP) was higher (P < 0.001) for the supplemented goats. Urinary nitrogen, total nitrogen excretion and retention increased (P < 0.01) with the level of supplementation. It was concluded that supplementation with groundnut -wheat bran mixture promoted feed intake and digestibility of DM, CP, and N retention in Somali goats fed hay. However, supplementation at the medium level appeared to be more effective since it promoted similar N balance with the high level of supplementation.