Feedlot Performance of Nubian Kids Fed Difference Levels of Molasses

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of varying levels of molasses supplementation in goats diets to assess feed intake, live weight gain and feed conversion ration. Sixteen Nubian kids were used in this study. Their weights were varying from 11 to 13 kg and their age was in range of 3 – 5 months. The animals were sub-grouped into four groups A, B, C and D each with four animals of average weight 12 kg. Each group received a different diet, the four diets are iso-caloric iso-nitrogenous namely A, B, C and D were offered on ad libitum base. Molasses was supplemented at 0, 10, 20 and 30 percentage respectively. The animals were fed for four weeks including one week adaptation period. There was a significant (P < 0.05) difference among the treatment groups for average daily feed intake, average daily weight gain and FCR. The values of these parameters were 0.480, 0.418, 0.53, 0.413 kg/day. 0.060, 0.031, 0.100, 0.031 kg/day. 8.54, 12.0, 5.6, 15.29 kg DM/kg respectively. The finding concluded that the addition of molasses at 20% level had a good effect on kids performance, specially weight gain and FCR which was markedly improved.