Utilization of Prosopis Juliflora Plant in Taita Taveta County and Effects of Supplementation With Pod Meal on Performance of Weaner Galla Goats

Abstract

To evaluate utilization of Prosopis juliflora in Taita Taveta County and the effects of supplementation with Prosopis juliflora pods meal on performance of male weaner Galla goats, two studies were conducted. The first study focused on the community perception, use, and impacts of Prosopis juliflora in Taita Taveta County. A total of 314 respondents were randomly selected from each of the 4 wards in Taveta sub-county ensuring representation based on age, gender, wealth and occupation. Four Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) comprising 78 participants (47 males and 31 females) were held in four locations within the pastoral and agropastoral communities. The data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. The key data collected included community perceptions, impacts of Prosopis juliflora and its use. The three most common uses of prosopis were as a source of firewood (64%), charcoal (24%) and animal feed (23%). Poisonous thorns were cited as the major negative impact (56%), invasiveness (25%), reduction in soil fertility (8%), injurious (6%) and difficulty of eradication (5%). It was concluded that Prosopis has been used for fencing, income generation, shade, windbreaker, food, traditional medicine, soil erosion control, construction feed, and supplements and fodder for livestock The second study was carried out to assess the effect of supplementation with different levels of Prosopis juliflora pods meal on feed intake (FI), digestibility, body weight gain (WG) and feed conversion ratio of Galla goats. Twenty-four male weaner Galla goats of approximately 18kg live weight (18±1.9kg) were purchased from the local market and randomly assigned to four treatment groups with six goats each. Experimental diets consisted of a basal ration of Cenchrus ciliaris grass hay fed ad-libitum, maize germ cake, cotton seed cake, and different levels of milled Prosopis juliflora pods. Ground Prosopis pods (Pp) meal was fed at different levels of 0g/d Pp, 100g/d Pp, 200g/d Pp, and 300g/d Pp for the 4 experimental groups TR1 (control), TR2, TR3, and TR4 respectively. The highest feed intake (FI) was recorded for Treatment 4 (TR4) 754g/d and it was significantly (p<0.05) higher than 543g/d, 611g/d, and 655g/d for TR1, TR2, and TR3 respectively. The highest weight gain (WG) was recorded for TR4 (69g/d) and it was significantly (p<0.05) higher than TR1 (25g/d) and TR2 (40g/d) but not significantly (p>0.05) different from TR3(50g/d) The lowest feed conversion ratio (FCR) was recorded in TR4 (11.8), which was lower than TR3(14), TR2(18), and TR1(27). The highest crude protein digestibility was recorded for Treatment 4 (TR4) 74% and was significantly (p<0.05) higher than TR1 (55%) and TR2 (65%). The best level of Prosopis juliflora pods meal inclusion in the goats' diets was 300g/d. It was recommended that male weaner Galla goats can be supplemented with Prosopis pods meal at 300g/d to improve FI, WG, FCR, and feed digestibility.