Abstract

The effects of increasing dietary levels of crude protein (CP) on growth, feed intake, feed efficiency and nutrient apparent digestibility on Iranian Saanen kids were studied. 24 Iranian Saanen weaned kids who were 86 ± 3 days old with live weight of 9 ± 03 kg were used in a completely randomized design. There were three treatments (n = 8 kids per treatment). The dietary treatments contained 35% lucerne hay with 65% concentrate supplement that consisted of 14, 15 and 16% CP for T1, T2 and T3, respectively (based on dry matter). The kids were housed in individual metabolic cages. Daily intake and body weight gain were determined and feed efficiency was calculated. Rumen fluid was collected by stomach tube and pH was immediately measured. The results show that, with increasing CP level in the diet, feed intake and body weight gain increased numerically, which was not significant (P> 0.5). Feed efficiency improved with increasing CP level. The effects of treatments on apparent digestibility were not significant (P> 0.5); but, ammonia-N and pH significantly increased with increasing CP level (P<0.5). No significant differences were observed between treatments for body measurement. Therefore, the results of this study show that increasing CP level from 14 to 16% improved performance in the Saanen kids.

Key words: Saanen kids, crude protein level, treatment, performance.

Abbreviation

Abbreviations: CP, crude protein; ADG; Average daily gain; DMI, Dry Matter intake;AIA, Acid Insoluble Ash; NDF, Natural Detergent Fiber; ADF, Acid Detergent Fiber;CRD, complete randomized design; FCE, feed conversion efficiency.