Viengsavanh Phimphachanhvongsod et al., 2002. Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci., 15 (11): 1585-1590

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different levels of G. sepium leaves in a diet of guinea grass (P. maximum) on feed intake, liveweight gain and apparent digestibility of 30 female goats of local breed, 11 to 18 kg. The goats were allotted to 5 treatments which consisted of 5 levels (0 (GL-0), 20 (GL-20), 30 (GL-30), 40 (GL-40) and 50% (GL-50)) of G. sepium leaves based on the energy requirements of the animals. Another 6 female goats were used to study the digestibility of 3 dietary treatments (GL-0, GL-30 and GL-50) according to a double 3*3 Latin square arrangement. The crude protein (CP) content of Gliricidia was higher while the neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) were lower than in guinea grass. Increasing the amount of Gliricidia leaves resulted in similar intake of total dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), NDF and ADF among treatments, but CP intake increased with increasing Gliricidia in the diet. The highest total DM intake was 3.0% of the body weight in the GL-20 diet while the highest daily liveweight gain was 43 g/day in the GL-30 diet. Inclusion of 30% of Gliricidia leaves improved the apparent DM, OM and CP digestibility as compared to the 0 or 50% inclusion. NDF and ADF digestibility declined with increasing levels of Gliricidia leaves in the diet.