Effects of Feeding Ficus polita Foliage-based Complete Rations with Varying Forage: concentrate Ratio on Performance and Ruminal Fermentation in Growing Goats

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of forage to concentrate ratio (F:C) on voluntary feed intake, total tract digestibility, N utilization, ruminal fermentation, microbial protein supply and growth in goats in a 91-day experiment excluding the adjustment period. Twenty-one goats, with an initial similar body weight of 12.3 +/- 0.59 kg, were randomly assigned to one of three F:C ratio diets containing 70:30, 60:40 or 50:50 in a completely randomized design. Dry matter and nutrient intakes, apparent digestibility of fibre fractions, digestible crude protein (DCP) and digestible organic matter (DOM), digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME), ruminal total N, N retention, feed conversion ratio and average daily gain were not (P>0.05) affected by the treatments. Intakes of DCP, DOM, DE and ME, organic matter digested in the rumen, microbial protein supply, total volatile fatty acids, apparent digestibility of crude protein and organic matter, and N absorbed linearly increased (P<0.05) with decreasing F:C ratio. Apparent DM digestibility, digestible DM, digestible DM intake, ruminal pH and NH3-N had a positive linear increase (P<0.01) with increasing level of concentrate. The results indicate that tannin-containing Ficus polita forage can be included in complete diet of goats up to 700 g/kg DM without compromising the performance of the animals.