Authors : A.O.Oni , C.F.I. Onwuka , O.O. Oduguwa , O.S. Onifade , O.M. Arigbede , O.O. Oni and U.Y. Anele
Abstract: Wet citrus pulp from sweet orange collected from a fruit juice canning factory at Ibadan, Oyo State, was sun-dried for 7 days on asphalt surface. Sixteen West African Dwarf goats weighing 5.0-5.6 kg were used in a 112 days feeding experiment to determine the effect of citrus pulp in the dry season feed of West African Dwarf goats placed on Enterolobium cyclocarpum as basal feed. The dried citrus pulp contained 6.3% crude protein, 17.63% crude fibre, 5.13% ash and 69.32% nitrogen free extractives on DM basis. Citrus seeds, collected separately, contained 11.69% CP, 8% CF, 5% ash and 69.44% NFE. A control diet with contained 88.5% Brewers� Dried Grains (BDG) and three experimental diets in which BDG was replaced by citrus pulp at 25, 50 and 75% levels in the experimental diets, respectively constituted the four treatments. The highest total nutrient intakes (p>0.05) occurred at 50% level of dried citrus pulp replacement being 593.19, 116.08, 59.78, 266.12, 182.86, 14.58, 150.26 and 83.26 gd-1 for DM, CP, CF, NDF, ADF, ADL, cellulose and hemicellulose, respectively. The digestibility coefficients of DM, CF, Ash, NFE, NDF, ADL, cellulose and hemicellulose increased with increasing levels of dried citrus pulp in the diets and were highest at 75% level of replacement. The inclusion of both citrus pulp and brewers� dried grains in the diet at 50% levels is recommended as dry season feed for ruminant animals using E. cyclocarpum as basal feed.
A.O.Oni , C.F.I. Onwuka , O.O. Oduguwa , O.S. Onifade , O.M. Arigbede , O.O. Oni and U.Y. Anele , 2006. Nutrients Intake and Digestibility by West African Dwarf Goats Fed Enterolobium cyclocarpum (Jacq.) Griseb. Basal Diet and Citrus Pulp-Based Diets. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 5: 828-831.