Effect of method of processing foliage of Acacia mangium and inclusion of bamboo charcoal in the diet on performance of growing goats

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effect of including charcoal and of different processing methods of foliage from Acacia mangium in the diet on intake and performance of goats. In experiment 1, four male goats were used in a Latin square arrangement. The treatments were: control, no bamboo charcoal, and 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5 g bamboo charcoal per kg body weight (BW). The diet consisted of 10 g/kg initial BW dry matter (DM) of concentrate and Para grass, respectively. Acacia was fed ad libitum at a level of 130% of the individual fresh intake the previous day. The time for each period was 21 days with the last seven days for data collection. Adding bamboo charcoal to the diet did not increase DM intake of Acacia, total DM intake or neutral detergent fiber or acid detergent fiber digestibilities, but had a significant effect on DM, organic matter (OM) and crude protein (CP) digestibilities and nitrogen (N) retention higher values being obtained in treatments 0.5 and 1.0, significantly higher than in the control or 1.5 treatments. In experiment 2, 42 goats were randomly allotted to 6 different treatment groups. The treatments were three different methods of processing Acacia: fresh foliage, wilted foliage or dried foliage. Each method was tested with or without adding bamboo charcoal (0.5 g charcoal/kg BW). The diet was the same as in Exp. 1. The experimental time was 12 weeks. The goats fed the diet with bamboo charcoal consumed similar amounts of total DM and DM of Acacia as the goats fed the diet without bamboo charcoal and grew significantly faster (53 and 44 g/day, respectively, with and without charcoal). The processing method of Acacia foliage had a significant effect on total DM intake and DM intake of Acacia. The highest total DM intake was obtained by goats fed wilted Acacia, significantly different from fresh and dried Acacia. The weight gain of goats fed wilted or dried Acacia was higher than that of goats fed fresh Acacia, but this difference was not significant. In conclusion, the value of Acacia mangium as a feed for goats can be improved by wilting the foliage and feeding 0.5 to 1 g/kg BW of bamboo charcoal per day (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.