Performance, digestibility and rumen fermentation characteristics of goats fed leaf meals of Vernonia amygdalina or Moringa oleifera

A 84-day trial was conducted to investigate the potentialities of Vernonia amygdalina and Moringa oleifera leaves as natural growth promoters in ruminant production. Hence, the leaves were identified, collected, screened, air-dried, and milled separately into powdery form to make the leaf meals. A basal concentrate diet (BCD--control diet) was formulated, and were divided into nine equal portions while the leaf meals: V. amygdalina leaf meal (VALM) or M. oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) were added and thoroughly mixed with concentrate diet at 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 w [w.sup.-1], per each leaf meal, respectively. Thereafter fed to forty-five West African Dwarf growing goats, randomly allocated to the diets. Nutrient intake, digestibility, rumen fermentation, and weight change of goats were used as response criteria. The results revealed that 20% VALM improved (p < 0.05) crude protein intake, nitrogen retention, final live-weight, average daily weight gain (ADWG), and feed conversion ratio. VALM affected rumen fermentation (p < 0.05) increasing propionic, butyric acids and total volatile fatty acids (TVFA) concentrations, and total viables bacterial. Further, positive strong correlation ([R.sup.2] = 0.9498) existed between ADWG and TVFA. It can be concluded that VALM and MOLM are potential phytogenic plants capable of altering the rumen ecosystem for improved nutrient intake, digestibility, rumen fermentation, better than the control diet, without any detrimental effects on growing goats' performance. Summarily, dietary inclusion of VALM at 20% improved feed utilization and animal performance. Keywords: natural growth promoters; nutrient bio-availability; rumen microbes; tropical leaves.