Effects of feeding water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) fodder with or without commercial concentrate on zoo-technical performance and profitability in tropical goats and sheep

The utilization of unconventional feed resources, such as water hyacinth is an effective strategy to address feed shortages in tropical and subtropical regions, particularly where access to conventional feeds is limited. In this study, tropical sheep (Doyogena rams) and goats (Woyito-Guji bucks) fed diets containing different amounts of WH were examined for their zoo-technical performance and profitability sing a 2 x 4 x 4 randomized crossover design with two animal species, four nutritional treatments, and four feeding intervals. The dietary treatments consisted of 50% hay + 0% WH + 50% commercial concentrate (CC, T1), 50% hay + 12.5% WH + 37.5% CC (T2), 50% hay + 25% WH + 25% CC (T3), and 50% hay + 37.5% WH + 12.5% CC (T4). The findings showed that compared to goats, sheep had the highest energy and nutrient intake (P<0.001), nutrient digestibility (P<0.001), average daily gain (ADG, g/day), and body weight change (BWC (kg) (P<0.05). Regarding energy and nutritional intake, there was a substantial difference (P < 0.001) between treatment groups for both animal species, with the exception of goats consumption of DM, OM, CHO, GE, and ADL (P <0.05). Likewise, significant differences existed between treatment groups for nutritional digestibility, ADG, BWC, and FCE for both species (P <0.001). Moreover, significant interactions (P < 0.005) were seen in all energy and nutrient intake parameters between species and treatment. Furthermore, in tropical sheep and goat breeds, water hyacinth can replace up to 37.5% of the commercial concentrate used for growth and fattening, but it has a major comparative effect on sheep. Feed prices for the T4 group fed sheep and goats were 37.2% and 36.8% lower, respectively, than for the T1 group. Therefore, farmers in the tropics who cannot afford commercial concentrates can still benefit economically by using the dry biomass of water hyacinth in their diet, either with or without it.