Asian Research Journal of Agriculture

The nutrients digestibility, nitrogen utilization and blood profile of West African Dwarf (WAD) goat fed cassava peels with urea-molasses multi-nutrients block (UMMB) supplements was investigated in a twelve weeks experiment. Twenty WAD goats that weighed 8.33±0.35 kg on average were assigned to each of the five experimental diets that contained cassava peels without UMMB supplement (treatment 1) and with UMMB containing 0% urea (treatment 2), 5% urea (treatment 3), 10% urea (treatment 4) and 15% urea (treatment 5), in a completely randomized design (CRD). Results of the study revealed that nutrients digestibility were significantly (P<0.05) influenced by UMMB supplementation. Goats fed diet T₄ also had the highest values of digestibility coefficients of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), crude fibre (CF) and nitrogen free extract (83.05%, 71.97%, 67.64% and 71.34%)  respectively. Nitrogen retention was significantly (P<0.05) influenced by dietary treatments, the values ranged from 0.75 g/day (diet T₁) to 6.07 g/day (diet T₅). Haematological indices and serum biochemistry were within normal range for WAD goats.

Conclusively it can be said that urea-molasses multi-nutrient blocks is offers a reliable source of protein for improved nutrients digestibility and nitrogen utilization by WAD goats fed cassava peels without detrimental effects on the wellbeing of the goats.