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Adebisi IA, Ajibike AB, Okunlola OO, Adeniyi OA, Oloko AB, Oladepo O, Mustapha TB, Akanmu OC, Adesope AT, Olayinka RF. Effect of Sesbania sesban fodder and Napier grass hay mixture diets on rumen metabolites of West African dwarf growing goats. Bìol Tvarin. 2025; 27 (3): 42–46. DOI: 10.15407/animbiol27.03.042.
https://doi.org/10.15407/animbiol27.03.042
Received 31.03.2025 ▪ Revision 18.07.2025 ▪ Accepted 29.07.2025 ▪ Published online 22.10.2025

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Effect of Sesbania sesban fodder and Napier grass hay mixture diets on rumen metabolites of West African dwarf growing goats

I. A. Adebisi¹, A. B. Ajibike¹^,², O. O. Okunlola¹, O. A. Adeniyi³, A. B. Oloko¹,O. Oladepo¹, T. B. Mustapha¹, O. C. Akanmu¹, A. T. Adesope¹, R. F. Olayinka¹
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¹Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Faculty of Animal and Fisheries Technology, Department of Animal Production Technology,
PMB 10, Igboora, Oyo State, 200234, Nigeria

²University of São Paulo, School of Animal Science and Food Engineering, Research Centre of Animal Breeding, Biotechnology and Transgenesis,
225 Duque de Caxias Norte ave., Pirassununga, São Paulo, 13635-900, Brazil

³Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Faculty of Animal and Fisheries Technology, Department of Animal Health Technology,
PMB 10, Igboora, Oyo State, 200234, Nigeria

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Meeting the nutritional requirements of ruminants during the dry season is challenging due to low-quality forage, which demands the use of browse legume fodder with grass species to provide an efficient rumen environment for microbes to flourish and ferment feeds, thereby increasing animal productivity. The effect of Sesbania sesban (SS) forage with Napier grass (NG) hay mixture diet on rumen metabolites of West African dwarf (WAD) bucks was evaluated after a 90-day feeding trial. A total of sixteen (16) growing WAD bucks between 6–9 months of age with an average body weight of 6.00–10.00kg were randomly allocated to four treatments with four bucks per treatment and two bucks per replicate in a completely randomized design, and were fed daily with varied experimental diets (T₁ = 100% NG hay (100NG); T₂ = 25% NG + 75% SS hay (25NG75SS); T₃ = 50% NG + 50% SS hay (50NG50SS); T₄ = 100% SS hay (100SS)) with a 500 g concentrate diet at 3% body weight of individual animals. Significant (P<0.05) differences were observed in rumen parameters across the dietary treatments. The pH value ranges from 7.40 (bucks fed T₁ diet) to 8.56 (bucks fed T₄ diet). Highest acetic acid value (13.80 mmole/100 ml), propionic acid (13.60 mmole/100 ml), butyric acid value (12.57 mmole/100 ml) and total volatile fatty acids (194.64 mmole/100 ml) was observed in bucks fed T₃ diet while the least acetic acid (10.19 mmole/100 ml), propionic acid (9.72 mmole/100 ml), butyric acid (9.27 mmole/100 ml) and TVFA (144.54 mmole/100 ml) was recorded in bucks fed T₂ diet respectively. The highest NH₃-N (0.86%) was observed in bucks fed T₃ diet, while the lowest value for NH3-N (0.70%) was noted for bucks fed T₁ diet. It can be concluded that the combination of Napier grass with selected browse fodders at 50% can enhance rumen metabolites in WAD bucks.

Key words: tropical browse fodders, Napier grass, WAD bucks, rumen ecology

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