INTAKE AND NUTRIENT UTILIZATION BY EARLY WEANED WEST AFRICAN DWARF KIDS FED SOYBEAN DIET AS REPLACER FOR MILK

Twenty-one early weaned West African dwarf (WAD) goats weighting 1 – 1.5kg at birth were used to asses the utilization of nutrients by kids fed soyabeans diet (SD) as replacer for milk. Replacement of milk with SD up to 50 percent had no significant (P > 0.05) effect on dry matter intake of kids. Nutrient digestibility values however decreased (P < 0.05) with replacement of milk with SD up to 50 percent level. The digestibility of nutrientts increased (P < 0.05)with age of the kids. Weight gain of the kids (up to 9 weeks of age) reduced with partial replacement of milk  with SD up to 50 percent level. Values recorded for average daily weight gain (g/day) for the kids for diets containing 0, 25, and 50 percent SD were 11.2, 6.7 and 3.0, respectively at 4 weeks of age and 24.3, 19.2 and 7.8, respectively at 6 weeks of age. 25 percent replacement of milk with SD gave adequate performance pre-weaned kids. The result also showed that that the level of replacement of milk with SD could be increased up to 50 percent only after 6 weeks of age.