Abstract #174

# 174
Moringa oleifera leaf as a protein source in the diet of Anglo-Nubian goats affects feed intake, digestibility, and ruminal fermentation.
A. E. Kholif*1, G. A. Gouda1, A. Z. M. Salem2, T. A. Morsy1, S. M. Kholif1, 1Dairy Science Department, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt, 2Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Toluca, Estado De México, Mexico.

Recently, the availability and price of concentrates especially of protein sources are a serious problem for animal producers especially small farms. Therefore there is a need to find alternative ingredients for protein sources. Moringa oleifera leaf contains about 25% crude protein (CP) with low degradability, which make it a good source of protein in ruminant diets. Therefore, in a 4 × 4 Latin square design, the effect of including M. oleifera leaf as a protein source in diets of Anglo-Nubian goats on intake, digestibility and ruminal fermentation given was evaluated. Sixteen goats (36.2 ± 0.7 kg BW) were fed 4 diets (n = 4 goats) where sesame meal (259.0 g CP/kg DM; 279.1 g neutral detergent fiber (NDF)/kg DM) was replaced with M. oleifera (241.2 g CP/kg DM; 336.6 g NDF/kg DM) at 0% (control-M0), 50% (M50), 75% (M75) and100% (M100). The experimental period consisted of 17 d adaptation + 5 d for feed intake measurements and feces collection. Water was always available to goats. All goats were sampled for rumen liquor at the last day of each experimental period after 0, 3 and 6h of morning feeding. Goats fed on M75 and M100 diets increased feed intake of all nutrients (linear, P < 0.001; quadratic, P < 0.05). Moreover, increased dry matter (quadratic, P = 0.0014), organic matter (linear, P = 0.0117), and crude fibers (linear, P = 0.0119; quadratic, P = 0.0018) digestibility were obtained with goats fed on M75. However, goats fed on Moringa (M50, M75, M100) had a linearly decreased CP digestibility (P < 0.0001). Diets nutritive values as total digestible nutrients (P = 0.0049), digestible CP (P = < 0.0001), metabolizable energy (P = 0.0054) and net energy of lactation (P = 0.0049) were quadratically decreased with M50, M75 and M100 vs. M0. Goats fed on Moringa diets had increased (P < 0.05) ruminal pH, volatile fatty acids, propionate and methane production vs. control. It could be concluded that inclusion of M. oleifera leaf as a protein source at 75% of sesame meal increased feed intake, nutrients digestibility and ruminal fermentation of Anglo-Nubian goats.

Key Words: digestibility, Moringa oleifera, ruminal fermentation