Effect of Atriplex Consumption on Growth Performance and Secondary Hair Follicle Activity of Cashmere Goats

This experiment was conducted to study the effect of feeding different levels of two species of Atriplex canescens and Atriplex lentiformis replacing with Alfalfa on feed intake, body weight gain and secondary hair follicle activity of Raeini cashmere goats. A complete randomized design was used with 7 experimental treatments 1, 2, 3, 4 with 100% Alfalfa (control) and 20, 40 and 60 % Atriplex canescens and treatments 5, 6 and 7 with 20, 40 and 60 % Atriplex lentiformis respectively. Forty nine female Raeini goats of 18 months of age with an average initial body weight of 19.8 +/- 2.3 Kg were used for 180 days. Daily feed intake and weight gain was measured during experimental period. At the end of experimental period skin biopsies were taken from the right mid side region of goats. Skin samples were fixed in buffered formalin, dehydrated in series of ethanols, blocked in paraffin, sectioned with microtome and stained with Sacpic method. Active secondary follicle percentage was measured from the sectioned skinned samples. Results indicated that levels of two species of Atriplex had significant (p<0.05) effect on feed intake and daily weight gain. Maximum feed intake and daily weight gain were found in control group (940 +/- 36.60 and 23.9 g d(-1)) respectively. Minimum feed intake was 615 +/- 77.09 g d(-1) in treatment group 7 and minimum daily weight gain was -12.42 g d(-1) in treatment group 4. Significant (p<0.05) difference was found in active secondary follicle percentage between treatment groups. Active secondary follicle percentage was 91.21 +/- 0.20, 88.25 +/- 0.64, 86.74 +/- 1.23, 87.38 +/- 1.09, 86.19 +/- 1.34, 86.59 +/- 0.50 and 85.65 +/- 1.44 treatment groups 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, respectively. In an overall of conclusion, from the stand point of body weight gain 20% Atriplex canescens or 20-40% Atriplex lentiformis could be replaced with Alfalfa but in relation to fibre production the replacement rate for any Atriplex species should not exceed 20%.