Effect of Feeding Sesame Hull on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, and Carcass Characteristics of Black Goat Kids

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of replacing barley and soybean meal in finishing diets with sesame hull (SH) on growth performance, digestibility, and carcass characteristics of Black goat kids. Twenty-one Black goat kids were assigned randomly to 0%, 10%, or 20% SH diets (7/diet). The study lasted for 63 d. Intakes of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), and crude protein (CP) of kids fed the 10% diet were greater (p<0.05) than for the 0% and 20% SH diets (p<0.10). Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) intakes were highest (p<0.05) for kids fed the 10% SH diet when compared to 0% and 20% SH diets. Ether extract (EE) intake was greater (p<0.05) for kids fed 10% and 20% SH diets when compared to 0% SH. Digestibilities of DM, OM, CP, NDF, and ADF were similar among all diets. However, sesame hull inclusion increased (p<0.05) EE digestibility. Final body weight, total gain, average daily gain (ADG), and feed conversion ratio were comparable among all diets. Cost of gain was lower (p<0.05) in kids fed 20% SH than the 0% SH diet, while there was no difference between the 10% SH diet and the other two diets. Dressing percentage, hot and cold carcass weights, non-carcass components, carcass cut weights, and meat quality parameters were not influenced by SH. Total fat percentage in the leg was greater (p<0.05) on 0% SH than on the 10% SH diet. Results of this study demonstrated that inclusion of sesame hull at levels of 10 or 20% did not influence the performance of Black goat kids, but the cost of gain was lower.