Effect of Concentrate Supplementation on Growth Performance of Grazing Kids

Twenty Black Bengal kids (3 months age) randomly distributed into 4 groups of 5 each, were allowed to graze on native pasture for a period of 8h/day. Group I received no supplementary feed, however, groups II, III and IV received concentrate at the rate of 1, 2 and 3 percent of their body weight, respectively. Pasture consumption reduced significantly (P<0.01) with increasing level of concentrate, however, total DMI increased significantly (P<0.01) with increasing level of concentrate. Digestibility of nutrients barring CP and EE, decreased (P<0.01) with increasing level of concentrate. ADG was 31.22, 42.11, 62.33 and 61.22 g/day and DMI/kg gain was 7.80, 6.62, 5.03 and 5.58 kg in groups I, II, III and IV, respectively and the variation among groups was signaficant (P<0.05). It is concluded that kids grazing on native pasture of Tripura need to be supplemented with concentrate at the rate of 2 percent of their body weight.