Growth performance of black bengal goats by feeding different levels of mustard oilseed cake

Black Bengal Goat farming business in one of the most profitable and promising entrepreneurship venture for rural youths and livestock farmers in Jalpaiguri district. The goat farmers make their earnings through trading of castrated male goats. However, they normally do not include mustard oilseed cake in the feed of these goats to enhance their body weight. This study included twenty-four (24) randomly selected Black Bengal castrated male goats from the farmer's field of uniform age and weight. The objective of the study was to find out the effect of four types of formulated concentrate feeds containing varying proportions of mustard oilseed cakes (MOC) on average body weight growth of goats. Four groups T1, T2, T3 and T4 based on MOC inclusion level (0%, 12%, 18% and 24%) in formulated concentrate feed were prepared. The goats were fed the feed for 90 days period. The consumption of prepared feed was significantly (p≤ 0.05) higher (205.36 g/ day) in T3 group than other groups. The dry matter intake (DMI) during the study period was increased in T1, T2, and T3 groups but decreased for the T4 group with no significant variation. Daily Crude Protein Intake (CPI) and total live weight gain were found significantly (p≤ 0.05) higher in T3 group of goats. The result explained that the Black Bengal castrated goats might have better body weight gain average when fed with 18% mustard oilseed cake included in specific concentrate mixture.