Potency of fresh cassava leaves (Manihot esculenta crantz) as natural anthelminthic on goat performances

Abstract

The research aims to determine the potency of fresh cassava leaves (Manihot esculenta crantz) as natural anthelmintic on the goat performances. Cassava leaves is an important cash crop widely grown in tropical area, contained high level of protein and could be used as a protein supplement and natural anthelmintic in ruminants. The research was conducted in experimental methods by using 20 six and seven months old PE female goat weighing 18-19 kg. Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was used with four treatments and five replications to analyze the data. The treatments were the length of fresh cassava leaves feeding as much as 8% from live weight for 0 week (A), 3 weeks (B), 6 weeks (C) and 9 weeks (D). The variable was observed the performances of goat that consisted of the faecal egg count, dry matter intake and average daily weight gain. The result of this research indicated that the feeding of fresh cassava leaves for a long time was significantly decreased the faecal egg count and increased the dry matter intake and average daily weight gain. It is concluded that cassava leaves can be used as natural anthelmintic in the ration and can be given in the long term because it is very significant to increase the goats performance and reduce the faecal egg count.