Consumo de Pennisetum purpureum cv. King Grass a tres edades de cosecha en caprinos

consumption of pennisetum purpureum cv. king grass at three different ages by goats. the objective of this work was to determine the age of pennisetum purpureum cv. king grass preferred by goats, and the age at which the animals experiencee highest nutrient assimilation. the experiment was conducted during the second semester of year 2007 at alfredo volio mata experiment station, of the universidad of costa rica, located at 1542 m. the amount of pasture produced at 60, 75 and 90 days after re-sprouting, and consumed by goats (average weight = 45 kg) of the races saanen, lamancha and toggenburg was obtained, distributed in a latin square with three replications. the highest consumption of green material was obtained when the forage was harvested at 60 days (p<0.01) (1,810 g/animal/d); on a dry-matter basis no significant differences between treatments were observed (p>0.05). a gradual reduction in dry matter and crude protein consumption was observed as the age of the harvested material and the proportion of shoots in the forage increased; whereas the neutral - detergent and acid-detergent fiber behaved in the opposite way. as the age of the material increased and the shoot: leaf relation decreased, forage consumption and nutrient assimilation by the goats increased.