Research Reports

Effects of young paper mulberry leaves as supplementary feed for goats in penned feeding systems

The effect of different levels of paper mulberry leaves in a diet based on guinea grass was studied in an experiment with 24 male goats of local breed, weighed 13±0.30 kg). The goats were allocated to five treatments, consisting of 4 levels 0, 5, 15 and 25% of paper mulberry leaves in the diet based on expected dry matter (DM) intake. Young paper leaves is proved to be a high quality feed for goats, because of high crude protein (CP) content and digestibility. However, the level of supplementation should be at least 15%. Goats received young paper mulberry leaves at level 15% and higher have better growth rate (more than 50 g per day). Therefore, young paper mulberry leaves can be a potential feed for smallholders to use as supplement feed to their goats, because of its quality and locally availability.

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Somchanh Khampavong1 , Phonepaseurt Phengsavane, Saysamone Hacknorat