Magnesium utilisation by West African dwarf goats during gestation

Twelve monoparous WAD goats aged 2-4 years and weighing 15 ± 1.2kg were used in a 20 wk gestation trial to study the effect of dietary inclusion of Mg supplementation at 0.01, 0.11 and 0.21% with MgSO 4 .7H 2 O in isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets. The does were synchronised and pregnant does were randomly allotted into each of the three groups of four animals. Results showed that Mg supplementation had a significant (P 0.05) differences of values 27.4, 26.9 and 28.1 mg/d Mg-balance were noted. The mean values for digestibility coefficient and blood serum Mg were 47.3, 17.5 and 15.8; and 1.7, 2.5 and 3.4 mg/100 ml respectively. Key words: Magnesium, gestating goats