Nutrient utilization in goats fed arhar straw (Cajanus cajan) based pelleted complete feed

The study was conducted to assess the effect of pelleted complete feed of varying protein levels on feed intake and nutrient utilization. Twelve non descript local goats were randomly divided into two treatment groups. Goats under both the treatments were fed pelleted complete feed G₁ (12% CP, 65.81% TDN) and G₂ (14% CP, 67.44% TDN) containing arhar straw as a sole roughage for 140 days. Roughage to concentrate ratio in the two diets was maintained at 60: 40 with arhar straw as the sole roughage. The arhar straw contained 94.0, 11.8, 2.7, 48.5 and 8.0% OM, CP, EE, NFE and lignin, respectively. The DMI in G₁ and G₂ was 4.6 and 4.9% of BW respectively. The average gain in the respective groups. was 75.7 and 72.9 g/d. The digestibility of nutrients in the 2 diets was satistically comprabale except that of CF and ADF, which was significantly (P<0.05) higher in G₂ than that of G₁, however reverse trend was observed in NFE digestibility. The DCP and TDN values were 8.5 and 65.8% in G₁; 9.9 and 67.4% in G₂ group respectively. The goats under both the groups were in positive nitrogen balance. It was concluded that the pelleted complete feed containing 60% arhar straw and 40% concentrate having 12% CP and 65.81% TDN fulfills the requirement of goats growing at the rate of 76 g/d.