Nutritional Evaluation of Guinea Grass in Goats

Fresh guinea (Panicum maximum) grass, harvested at mature stage, was fed to 5 male Jamunapari goats (6-9m; 23.42 kg b.wt) for 26 d as a sole feed. Low DM intake (28.19±1.26 g/w0.75 kg) resulted in loss in body weight® 138.46 g/d. The digestibility coefficients of DM, CP and total carbohydrates were 48.55±3.59, 43.21±2.79 and 53.41±3.39, respectively. The DCP and TON contents of the grass on DM basis were 1.58±0.10 and 50.37+2.83%, respectively. The serum albumin and phosphorus levels decreased significantly (P<0.01) due to feeding of guinea grass. It was concluded that mature guinea grass can not be fed as sole feed and supplementation of concentrate mixture is required to maintain body weight.