INFLUENCE OF DIETS CONTAINING GRADED LEVELS OF RAW AND FERMENTED MALTED SORGHUM SPROUT ON THE THERMO-PHYSIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF WEST AFRICAN DWARF GOATS

Abstract

Malted Sorghum Sprout (MSP) is an agro-industrial by-product use as an alternative feedstuff in feeding ruminants. Hence, this study was designed to evaluate the thermo-physiological parameters of West African dwarf (WAD) goats fed diets containing graded levels of raw and fermented MSP
(RMSP and FMSP) incorporated into the concentrate diet at 0%, 25% and 50% respectively to formulate six experimental diets using 2×3 factorial layout in a completely randomized design. A total of twenty four (24) WAD goats were randomly allotted to six dietary treatments for 12 weeks with four animals per treatment. Data were collected on thermo-physiological parameters. Results showed that main effect of processing methods and the inclusion levels of MSP significantly (p<0.05) influenced the respiratory rate of the experimental goats. Goats fed FMSP based diet recorded lower respiratory rate (40.03  reaths/min) when compared with those fed RMSP (40.38 breaths/min) based diet. The respiratory rate of the experimental animals reduces as MSP inclusion level increased across the dietary treatments. No significant (p>0.05) interaction effect were observed on the thermophysiological parameters of WAD goats except the rectal temperature. The study concluded that fermented malted sorghum sprout could be used up to 50% in WAD goats‟ diet as it reduced the rectal temperature and respiratory rate of the animals.