Department of Animal Science, Akwa Ibom State University, Obio Akpa Campus, Nigeria; Department of Crop Science, University of Uyo, Nigeria
Idiong, N.B., Department of Animal Science, Akwa Ibom State University, Obio Akpa Campus, Nigeria; Udom, G.N., Department of Crop Science, University of Uyo, Nigeria
The performance of thirty West African Dwarf goats (15 males and 15 females) intensively fed on five fodder diets were compared, to determine the influence of animal sex on the parameters studied. The parameters evaluated were feed intake, apparent digestibility, body weight, body weight gains, feed conversion ratio and reproductive performance. Mean intake values for male and female goats were 2.03kg and 2.77kg respectively, indicating that the experimental does consumed more feed than the bucks. Significant differences (p<0.05) were observed in apparent dry matter digestibility with the females exhibiting superiority over the males. Similar results were recorded for body weight and feed conversion ratio. Effect of sex on weight gain was not significant (p>0.05). However, male goats exhibited puberty characteristics earlier than females. The mean live weight at puberty were 7.81kg and 8.68kg for the bucks and does respectively.