Kongmanila et al., 2008. Livest. Res. Rural Dev., 20 (supplement)

Feed intake and selective behaviour of local goats offered different tropical foliage species were evaluated in a study using eight localmale growing goats around 7 months old and weighing 15.7 (1.1) kg. The goats had free access to six foliage species: Erythrina(Erythrina variegata), Fig (Ficus racemosa), Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill), Kapok (Ceibapentandra) and Mango (Mangifera indica). The foliages were hung in separate bunches in a large pen with a total amount of 9 % ofthe body weight (BW) as dry matter (DM), 1.5 % of the BW of each foliage. The goats were fed 3 times per day at 08:00 h; 11:00 hand 14:00 h. The bunches of foliage were weighed before and after feeding to estimate feed intake from leaves plus petioles and stemof the different foliage species. The time spent eating each foliage in minutes was recorded during 9 hours per day from 08:00 h to17:00 h for one goat per day in 8 days.The average time spent eating was 260 minutes, and the goats changed from one foliage to another foliage 132 times. Feed intake was634 g or 4.0% of BW and eating rate 2.5 g per minute. There were large individual differences between the goats in selectivebehaviour, feed intake and eating rate. The mean time spent eating, number of selective changes and total feed intake were higher forErythrina, Jackfruit and Kapok foliage than for Fig, Jujube and Mango foliage.