Abstract
The decrease in nutrient digestibility and general performance of ruminant animals has been a persistent challenge during the dry season in Nigeria, and the use of less competitive alternative feed ingredients could be a remedy. Hence, a sixty-three (63)-day study was conducted to evaluate the nutritional potential and growth response of West African Dwarf (WAD) does fed diets containing wheat offal replaced with tiger nut seed meal. Five (5) experimental diets were formulated to contain 0.00, 5.00, 10.00, 15.00, and 20.00% tiger nut seed meal and were thus designated as diets T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5, respectively. Twenty (20) WAD does were randomly assigned to the experimental diets with four (4) replicates per treatment in a completely randomized design (CRD) experiment. Parameters evaluated include the chemical composition of formulated diets and wilted Panicum maximum, nutrient intake, digestibility, nitrogen utilization, and growth response of the does. Significant (p < 0.05) differences were observed in the chemical composition of the diets with the highest dry matter, nitrogen-free extract, and metabolizable energy obtained from diet T4. The highest crude protein content in diet, intake, and digestibility were observed for the does fed diet T3. The results obtained from nitrogen utilization revealed a significant (p < 0.05) difference across all parameters with superior nitrogen intake, balance, and percentage retention for the does feed diet T3. Similarly, the highest weight gain, daily weight gain, total dry matter intake, protein efficiency, and least feed conversion ratio were recorded from does fed diet T3. Conclusively, incorporating tiger nut seed meal as a replacement for wheat offal at 10.00% in WAD does diet has the potential to improve feed digestibility and the general performance of does, thus can be adopted by goat farmers.