Growth performance by Alpine, Angora, Boer, and Spanish wether goats consuming 50 or 75% concentrate diets

M. Urge^1,2, R. C. Merkel¹, T. Sahlu¹, G. Animut^1,2, and A. L. Goetsch¹

¹E (Kika) de la Garza Institute for Goat Research, Langston University, Langston, OK
²Animal Science Department, Alemaya University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

Forty-six weaned wether goats (12 Alpine, 12 Angora, 10 Boer [87.5%], and 12 Spanish) were used to determine differences in growth performance with consumption of a 75% concentrate diet for 24 wk (75C) or for 12 wk subsequent to 12 wk of feeding a 50% concentrate diet (50C). Initial BW was 20.2, 12.2, 20.7, and 19.2 kg (SE = 0.73) for Alpine, Angora, Boer, and Spanish, respectively. There were no interactions between genotype and dietary treatment in DM intake, ADG, or gain efficiency in wk 1-12 or 13-24. Dry matter intake in wk 1-12 ranked (P < 0.05) Alpine and Boer > Spanish > Angora (703, 436, 689, and 567 g/d) and in wk 13-24 was greater (P < 0.05) for Alpine and Boer vs Angora and Spanish (712, 515, 702, and 456 g/d for Alpine, Angora, Boer, and Spanish, respectively). Dry matter intake as g/d was similar between dietary treatments. Average daily gain in wk 1-12 was greatest among genotypes (P < 0.05) for Boer (59, 59, 90, and 49 g); in wk 13-24 ADG was lowest among genotypes (P < 0.05) for Spanish and tended to be greater (P < 0.10) for Boer vs Alpine (58, 63, 82, and 25 g for Alpine, Angora, Boer, and Spanish, respectively). Gain efficiency (ADG:DM intake) was greater (P < 0.05) for Angora and Boer than for Alpine and Spanish in wk 1-12 (85, 132, 127, and 85 g/kg), and in wk 13-24 was lower (P < 0.05) for Spanish than for Angora and Boer (80, 121, 104, and 51 g/kg for Alpine, Angora, Boer, and Spanish, respectively). Average daily gain and gain efficiency were greater (P < 0.05) for 75 vs 50% dietary concentrate in wk 1-12 (ADG: 73 and 55 g; gain efficiency: 122 and 92 g/kg), and tended to be greater (P < 0.11) for 50C than for 75C in wk 13-24 (ADG: 49 and 65 g; gain efficiency: 77 and 101 g/kg for 75C and 50C, respectively). In conclusion, a moderate vs high dietary concentrate level did not impact differences among Alpine, Angora, Boer, and Spanish wether goats in growth performance.