EFFECT OF SUPPLEMENTATION AND PARASITIC INFECTION ON PRODUCTIVITY OF THAI NATIVE AND CROSS-BRED FEMALE WEANER GOATS I. GROWTH, PARASITE INFESTATION AND BLOOD CONSTITUENTS

This paper presents the effects of supplementary feeding and internal parasites on the growth rates of female weaner goats raised under improved management. A completely randomized $3{\times}3{\times}2$ factorial design was used. Factors were genotype (Thai native: TN, 75% TN $\times$ 25% Anglo-Nubian: An and 50% TN $\times$ 50% AN), feeding grazing only, low (1.0% BW/d) and high (1.5% BW/d) supplementation and parasite control (undrenched and drenched). It was shown that native goats had significantly (p<0.05) higher growth rates than did the cross-bred goats from 12-24 weeks of the trial. The growth rate of goats grazing improved pasture depended on the amount of concentrate offered as a supplement. There was no significant difference in growth rates between undrenched and drenched goats. There was no interaction effect on growth rates between the treatments. Drenched goats had significantly (p<0.01) lower egg counts per gram of gastro-intestinal nematode than did undrenched goats. There was no significant difference between the treatments for blood constituents (total protein, haemoglobin, packed cell volume, eosinophils, lymphocytes, monocytes and basophils).