Ingestive behaviour and growth performance of boer crossbred and indigenous goat kids under different feeding levels in semiarid region in Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate intake, digestibility, ingestive behavior and performance of Boer × non-descript breed F1, Canindé, and Moxotó kids subjected to three levels of feeding (ad libitum or intake restricted by 25 or 50%). The study used 45 non-castrated males, 15 animals from each genetic group, assigned to a 3 × 3 factorial arrangement, with 5 replicates of each genetic group at each feeding level. There was an interaction (P<0.05) between genotype and feeding levels for intake, digestibility and average daily gain (ADG). There was no effect (P>0.05) of genotypes and no interaction between feeding levels and genotypes for parameters of ingestive behavior. At the level of ad libitum intake, Boer × NDG F1 animals showed higher dry matter intake and ADG, and lower dry matter digestibility compared to the Canindé and Moxotó, respectively. Kids at the 50% restriction level had a longer rumination time per gram of dry matter ingested (0.76 min/g) compared to those fed ad libitum (0.29 min/g) and with 25% restriction (0.41 min/g, P<0.05). Boer × NDG F1 animals, when fed ad libitum, have higher performance than Canindé and Moxotó. Kids subjected to feed restriction have a longer rumination time.