Effect of Partial Replacement of Groundnut Cake with Baobab Seed Cake on Milk Production and Quality of Desert Goats

Background and Objective: Baobabs trees are widespread all over the hot, drier regions of Sudan. Baobab seeds are rich in protein and contain the amount of energy and crude protein which can be used as animal feeds. With scarcity of range with folders there is needed to search for another source of feeding. This study, therefore, investigated to study the effect of grazing desert goats fed varying levels of baobab seed cake (BSC) on milk yield and composition. Materials and Methods: This experiment was conducted in Al-Newala Village South ELObied town, Sheikan locality in North Kordofan State, Sudan. Twenty four adult pregnant doe's of desert goats were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments with six animals per replicate in a completely randomized design to determine the quantity and quality of milk produced. The experiment goats were separated into four supplementary feeding groups. Group A was used as a control, the second group B was supplemented with a diet of 65% (BSC), group C with a diet of 55% (BSC) and group D was supplemented with 45% (BSC). All goats were released for free grazing. Results: The results revealed that feeding with (BSC) had a highly significant (p<0.05) effect on milk yield on 60 days, total milk and daily milk yield. Group B recorded highest significantly (p<0.05) more milk (106.67 kg) than those in groups C and D at 93.75 and 82.58 kg, respectively. Group A showed the lower milk (77.17 kg). Daily milk yield indicated that the goats supplemented with (BSC) produced significantly (p<0.01) more milk than control groups. The data indicated that supplementation had exerted a significant (p<0.05) effect on fat during 1-15 and 30-45 days with higher fat percentage in group C in 45-60 days. Protein showed a significant (p<0.05) effect on 15-30 and 30-45 days. Lactose and ash content secure non-significant affected by baobab seed cake supplementation. Conclusion: Supplementation with baobab seed cake diet to Sudanese desert goats during the dry season improved milk production and inclusion of baobab seed cake at 65% in the diet of desert goats gave the highest milk yield.