Evaluation of Locally Available Feed Resources for Dairy Goat Feeding in Kongwa District, Tanzania

An experiment was conducted to assess the effects of three concentrate diets made from locally available feed resources on milk production and growth rates of dairy goats kept by small-scale farmers in Kongwa district. The concentrate diets were based on sunflower seed cakes (SFSC), Melia azedarach leaf meal (MLM) and Ficus spp. leaf meal (FLM) as sources of protein in the diets formulated to contain iso-protein level of 13% CP. Four dietary treatments were tested i.e., SFSC, MLM, FLM and farmers’ feeding practice. Cenchrus ciliaris hay and water were provided ad libitum to all animals. Twentyfour lactating does and 32 growing kids were used in a 90 day feeding trial to evaluate the effects of the diets on milk yield and growth performance, respectively. Six lactating does and eight growing kids were randomly allotted into each of the four dietary treatments. Each experimental animal was supplemented with 30 g/kg W0.75 (on as fed basis) of MLM, FLM or SFSC. Results showed that the animals supplemented with the concentrate containing SFSC, MLM and FLM had significantly higher (P<0.001) milk yield, body weight gain and growth rate than the animals under the farmers practice. Animals supplemented with diets containing SFSC had the highest milk yield (339.33 ± 18.61lire), body weight gain (10.30 ± 0.32 kg) and growth rate (114.43 ± 3.53 g/d), followed by those on MLM diet and lastly those on FLM. It is concluded that Melia azedarach leaf meals and Ficus spp. leaf meals are potential protein sources for use in formulating dairy goat rations in place of the expensive commercial concentrates.