UTTAR PRADESH JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY

The present investigation was conducted to evaluate the effect of Moringa oleifera, Ailanthus excelsa and Leucaena leucocephala on the growth performance of Sirohi goat kids over a 90-day experimental period. Thirty-six healthy kids (approximately one month old) were selected based on uniform initial body weight and randomly assigned to four dietary treatment groups (n=9 per group). The experimental treatments consisted of: T₁ (Control: basal roughage + concentrate), T₂ (Ardu; Ailanthus excelsa), T₃ (Subabul; Leucaena leucocephala), and T₄ (Moringa; Moringa oleifera). All the groups were supplemented with 100 g/day of concentrate mixture and groundnut straw ad libitum, while the respective experimental green fodders were offered ad libitum. To support early physiological development, all kids were allowed dam suckling during the morning and evening, maintaining standardized management practices across all groups. Body weights of kids were recorded at fortnightly interval. Results revealed that the T₄ group (Moringa) achieved the significantly (P<0.05) highest final average body weight per kid (15.58 kg), followed by T₃ (13.82 kg), T₂ (12.77 kg) and the lowest in the control group T₁ (12.15 kg). Similarly, the T₄ group fed with moringa green fodder achieved significantly (P<0.05) highest total weight gain (8.33 kg) followed by T₃ (6.6 kg), T₂ (5.63 kg) and T₁ control group (4.88 kg). The study concludes that the incorporation of Moringa as green fodder significantly enhances growth performance and weight gain in Sirohi kids, outperforming Ardu and Subabul, thereby suggesting its potential as a high-quality protein supplement for goat and other small ruminants.