Six growing Korean native(black) female goats were assigned to one of two diets containing alfalfa hay(60%);(AHD) or alfalfa hay(30%) plus Aralia cordata Thunberg leaves and stern chip(30%); Aralia cordata Thunberg diet(ATD), to determine the feeding value of Aralia cordata Thunberg leaves and stems as a roughage source.
Dry matter(DM) intake and daily gain were higher for AHD(615.6g/d and 31.4g/d) than for ATD(501.7g/d and 25.4g/d), however, those were not statistically different between diets(P$gt;0.05). Digestibilities of DM, energy and nitrogen were higher for AHD (75.41% 74.14% and 81.52%) than ATD(68.75%, 66.72% and 76.91%) (P$lt;0.05). Digestibility of crude fiber was higher for ATD(59.35%) than AHD(53.08%), whereas, those of NDF and ADF were higher for AHD (66.87%, 60.26%) than ATD (61.55%, 60.20%). However, those were not statistically different between AHD and ATD (P$gt;0.05 ).
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