The role of field beans in nutrition of Boer goat
Institute of Agrobiotechnology, Latvia University of Agriculture, Liela street 2, LV3001 Jelgava, Latvia
Correspondence: elita.aplocina@llu.lv
Abstract:
A study on the effective using of field beans to Boer mother goats feeding was carried out on a farm whose main activity is the production of goat meat. Since the Boer goat breed is still very rare in Latvia, there is a lack of experience in the feeding of meat goat. Goat productivity was analyzed according to the birth weight of goat kids and kids live weight at 50 days, as well as the average live weight gain of kids per day up to 50 days old. For control group goats a relatively high energy shortage (14% of the daily requirement) and protein deficiency (29% of the daily requirement) were observed in feed ratio. Adding fodder beans and maize into the feed, it is possible to optimize feed ratio for energy and protein supply. Experimental activities had shown that by the inclusion of field beans and maize in feed ratio of goat’s mothers, the average increase in live weight of kids up to 50 days old was by 58.2% higher (P < 0.05) than that of kids in which goats’ mothers received only oats as concentrated feed. By the optimization of feed ratio, it is possible to achieve a higher milk productivity of goat mothers and hence larger live weight gain for kids, which reduces the feed costs by up to 9% for 1 kg of live weight. By optimizing the breeding and feeding of mother goats and kids, it is possible to achieve greater animal fast-growing, hence, more efficient and cost-effective management.