Abstract:
Coconut oil has been used to improve feed intake and lactation performance in dairy cattle. However, there was no information of coconut oil supplementation in crossbred dairy goat under tropical condition. Therefore, the current study designed to investigate the effect of coconut oil supplementation on eating behavior and lactation performance in crossbred dairy goat during early lactation. Ten crossbred Saanen goats were used in the current experiment. Before parturition, animals were randomly divided into two groups of five animals each. Diets were control diet (without coconut oil supplementation) and experimental diet (with 2% coconut oil supplementation). Both diets were isoenergetic and isonitrogenous. Each goat was fed ad libitum twice daily as total mix ration (TMR) with free access to water. Dry matter intake (DMI), water intake (WI) and milk yield (MY) of each animals were measured every day throughout experiment. Meal pattern of each animal was recorded at day 25 post-partum. Blood samples were collected at one week before parturition, week 3 and 5 post-partum. DMI, dry matter intake/body weight (DMI/BW), WI, nutrient digestibility, nitrogen metabolism, milk yield were not significant difference in both groups. In addition, concentration of blood glucose, plasma non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA), plasma β-Hydroxybutyrate (BHBA) and cortisol hormone were not affected by coconut oil supplementation. However, coconut oil supplementation increased milk fat and protein composition. The results from meal pattern revealed that coconut oil supplementation increased significantly meal size and duration of crossbred Saanen dairy goat. The latter information suggested that 2% coconut oil supplementation may influence the palatability of diet fed to crossbred Saanen dairy goat.
