Effect of Cinnamon Powder Supplementation with Diets Containing Maize Cobs and Sugarcane Pulps/Peels on In-Vitro Methane Emission and Performance of Goats

The study was conducted to examine the effects of cinnamon powder as additive in diets containing maize cobs and sugarcane pulps/peels on in-vitro methane production and performance of goats using a completely randomized design. The basal and each of the supplementary diets that were used in a ratio of 60: 40 in treatment diets D1, D2, D3 and D4 contained 0%, 1%, 2% and 3% on dry matter basis of cinnamon powder inclusion respectively in the study. About 200mg of each of the diets in three replicates with a mixture of medium solution and rumen liquor (2:1) were used for in-vitro methane emission. Thirty-two West African dwarf goats of about 7 to 8 months of age with average body weight of 7.00 ± 0.80kg were randomly assigned to the four treatment diets. The experiment lasted for 84 days. Data obtained on in-vitro gas production, live-weight gain, digestibility and nitrogen retention variables were analysed using inferential statistics that was one-way analysis of variance. Results showed that gas production, methane emission, substrate degraded, neutral detergent fibre degradation, ether extract digestibility, nitrogen intake, faecal with urinary nitrogen output and feed conversion ratio were significantly (p<0.05) higher in diet D1 than other diets. Feed intake, live weight gain, digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, crude fibre with nitrogen free extract and nitrogen retention were significantly (p<0.05) better in diet D3 as compared with diets D1, D2 and D4. Reduction in methane gas production was best in D3. In conclusion, the use of 2% cinnamon powder as additive to diet containing 22% maize cobs and 19% sugarcane pulps/peels enhanced performance in goats