The effect of different proportions of carob pod meal in the diet on the performance of calves and goats

Abstract

SUMMARYFour trials with 24 and 38 British Friesian male calves, 39 male Damascus kids and 36 lactating Damascus goats were conducted over a period of 9 months, 6·5 months, 3 months and 12 weeks respectively to study the effects of carob pod meal on growth rate or milk yield. Carob pod meal was used to replace barley at rates from 0 to 30% of the diet. Urea was added to the diets of some of the treatments as a source of supplementary nitrogen.The final weights and average daily gains of the calves and kids fed on carob pod meal were as good as those of the controls but their feed intakes and feed conversion ratios were higher. The differences in fat-corrected milk between the goats fed on carob pod meal and the controls were not significant. The results showed that carob pod meal constituting up to 30% of the diet had no depressing effects on the growth rate of calves and kids or on the performance of dairy goats, and that the calves and kids could compensate for the lower energy content of carob pod meal by increasing their feed intake.