| Abstract | Fifty-five Alpine goats (27 primiparous and 28 multiparous) were used in an experiment with a 2 × 2 factorial treatment arrangement to evaluate effects of nutritional plane during gestation for 28 wk (High- and Moderate-GES) and diet nutritive value (High- and Moderate-LAC) during 16 wk of lactation (beginning at 2.8 ± 0.24 d in milk) on feed intake and digestion. Initial BW and body condition score (BCS; 1-5) in gestation was 56.7 ± 8.23 kg and 2.32 ± 0.22, respectively. At 11 d before kidding, BW was 78.2 and 73.5 kg (SEM = 1.67) and BCS was 3.17 and 3.02 (SEM = 0.043) for High-GES and Moderate-GES, respectively. Both lactation diets included 20% alfalfa hay and 10% cottonseed hulls, whereas High-LAC and Moderate-LAC contained 10 and 20% grass hay, 12.9 and 10% wheat middlings, 12.9 and 10% rolled oats, 3 and 2.5% soybean oil, and 5 and 2.5% molasses, respectively. The High-LAC and Moderate-LAC diets were 16.2 and 14.2% CP, 30.2 and 34.7% NDF, and 72.7 and 64.4% calculated TDN, respectively. Feces was collected to estimate digestibility in wk 3 and 12. Intake of DM (3.74, 3.56, 4.15, and 3.74% BW; SEM = 0.201), OM digestibility (78.0, 75.8, 78.3, and 78.8%; SEM = 1.62), NDF digestibility (33.0, 38.3, 37.6, and 45.4%; SEM = 3.94), N digestibility (80.2, 77.9, 79.9, and 81.0%; SEM = 1.52), and digested OM intake (1,911, 1,883, 2,204, and 1,881 g/d for High-GES/High-LAC, High-GES/Low-LAC, Low-GES/High-LAC, and Low-GES/Low-LAC, respectively; SEM = 113.6) were not affected by gestation nutritional plane, diet nutritive value during lactation, or their interaction (P > 0.05). In conclusion, although not significant, numerical differences in digested OM intake suggest potential benefit from use of a high quality diet during lactation subsequent to a moderate nutritional plane during gestation. |
