Influence of diets containing graded levels of raw and fermented malted sorghum sprouts on rumen ecology, apparent nutrient digestibility and nitrogen utilization of West African Dwarf goats

A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the rumen fermentation parameters, digestibility and nitrogen utilization of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats fed diets containing graded levels of malted sorghum sprouts (MSP) in raw (RMSP) and fermented (FMSP) forms incorporated into the concentrate diet at 0, 25 and 50% to formulate six experimental diets using 2×3 factorial layout in a completely randomized design. A total of 24 WAD goats were randomly allotted to six dietary treatments for 12 wk, with four animals per treatment. Data were collected on rumen ecology, digestibility, and nitrogen utilization parameters. Results showed that processing methods and levels of MSP inclusion influenced (p<0.05) all the rumen environment parameters except rumen pH. Rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) concentration increased (p<0.05) from 6.32 to 7.45 mg/100mL across the dietary treatments as the MSP inclusion level increased. Inclusion level of MSP influenced (p<0.05) total bacteria count (TBC), total coliform count (TCC), total fungi count (TFC) and protozoan. Animals fed diet containing 50% MSP based diet recorded the highest values of TBC (7.26 × 10⁶ cfu/mL), TCC (0.66 × 10⁶ cfu/mL) and TFC (0.66 × 10⁶ cfu/mL). The main and interactive effects of the processing methods and MSP inclusion level significantly (p<0.05) influenced the nutrient digestibility. The main effect of the processing methods employed significantly influenced the digestibility values. Animals fed FMSP based diet recorded higher dry matter (69.61%) and crude protein (68.09%) digestibility values when compared with those fed RMSP based diet. Animals fed 50% FMSP based diet elicited the highest dry matter digestibility (74.48%) and crude protein digestibility (73.10%). The main effect of processing methods and levels of MSP inclusion significantly (p<0.05) influenced the nitrogen utilization in which goats fed FMSP based recorded higher value (61.28%) while goats in 25% FMSP or MSP recorded the highest value (60.89%). Significant (p<0.05) interaction effect was obtained for nitrogen utilization parameters observed. Goats fed 50% FMSP based diet recorded the highest nitrogen utilization value (70.01%). It can be concluded that fermented malted sorghum sprouts could be used up to 50% in WAD goats’ diet without any adverse effect on the rumen ecology, nutrient digestibility, and nitrogen utilization of the animals.