The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of replacing coastcross (Cynodon dactylon) hay with a dehydrated pineapple by-product (DPB) on performance, apparent digestibility, and intake of digestible nutrients in growing goats. Twenty-four crossbred Saanen x Criola female goats averaging 19.2 kg of body weight (BW) at the beginning of the trial were used in a completely randomized design. Animals were assigned to one of the following four treatments: 0, 33, 66, or 100% of DPB in the diet. Replacing coastcross hay with DPB did not significantly affect the apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF). However, the apparent digestibility of both organic matter (OM) and cellulose (CEL) increased linearly while that of acid detergent fiber (ADF) showed a quadratic effect with the increasing levels of DPB in the diet. The average intake of digestible nutrients, expressed in g/kg BW0.75, for treatments with 0, 33, 66, or 100% of dietary DPB were in this order: 62.35, 63.58, 59.53 and 54.47 for DM; 60.40, 61.51, 57.94 and 51.83 for OM; 7.91, 7.86, 7.27 and 6.44 for CP; 24.85, 22.94, 21.61 and 18.75 for NDF; 7.62, 5.30, 5.96 and 7.11 for ADF; and 37.62, 27.83, 32.91 and 31.98 for CEL. Replacing coastcross hay by DPB in the diet improved the apparent digestibility of OM, CEL, and ADF and resulted in BW that was considered satisfactory for growing female goats.
by-products; feeding; intake; weight gain
