Broiler Litter and Urea-treated Wheat Straw as Feedstuffs

Thirty-two Alpine doelings (15 wk of age, 12 ± 2.05 kg) were randomly allocated to four treatments to evaluate the use of deep-stacked broiler litter (BL) and urea-treated wheat straw (UWS) as feedstuffs. In all treatments, UWS or untreated wheat straw (WS) was fed for ad libitum consumption along with a concentrate supplement fed at a prescribed percentage of BW. Treatments were: U B a corn-based concentrate (1.3% N) fed at 1.5% BW with UWS (2.1% N); S B a corn:soybean meal concentrate (3.2% N) fed at 1.9% BW with WS (0.5% N); LL B a corn:BL concentrate (2.3% N, BL at 0.8% BW) fed at 2.2% BW with WS; and HL B a corn:BL concentrate (2.7% N, BL at 1.6% BW) fed at 3.0% BW with WS. Animals were housed individually and fed once daily. Body weights were determined at 2-wk intervals prior to daily feeding during the 12-wk trial; ADG was calculated by regression. HL doelings consumed a greater amount of DM (P < 0.05) throughout the trial than did LL, S and U animals (54.7, 45.0, 35.9, and 36.4 kg, respectively, SE = 11.64). ADG did not vary among treatments (P > 0.05) and was 66, 63, 70, and 61 g/d (SE = 7.1) for HL, LL, S, and U, respectively. Feed conversion efficiency was lower (P < .05) for HL and LL than for S doelings, whereas U doelings had a feed conversion efficiency similar to S and LL but greater than HL (P < 0.05) (170, 145, 122, and 103 g gain/kg DMI for S, U, LL, and HL, respectively; SE = 11.6). Results indicate that both BL and UWS can be used as feedstuffs for replacement Alpine doeling growth during the early post-weaning period. The possibility of using modified crop residues and animal by-products as feedstuffs for goats is very important in countries such as Ethiopia where the availability and use of more conventional feedstuffs is limited.