The trial was conducted to establish a feasible method for water hyacinth silage and to investigate the effects of water hyacinth compound silage on the performance of goats. Fourteen treatments of water hyacinth compound silage were assorted according to the adjustment of dry matter contents, substrates (rice straw, vinegar dreg and wheat bran), and additives (molasses and corn power), and compound silage of rice straw and vinegar dreg was used as the control. Three treatments of water hyacinth compound silage were selected after organoleptic investigation and nutrient components analysis. Twenty goats （Boer goats × Xuhuai goats） of 180 days old were allotted into four groups with five replicates in each. The three selected compound silages were used as the roughages in the experimental groups, and corn silage was used in the control group. Performance changes of goats were evaluated. The results were showed as follows: 1) Water hyacinth was successfully fermented without any additive but assorted with substrates; and the compound silage of water hyacinth dehydrated by extruding ensilaged with corn powder and vinegar dreg had the lowest pH and shortest fermentation time. 2) The water hyacinth still had high nutritional values after dehydrated by extruding and its ratio in total mixed ration for goats was increased to 73.16%. 3) The feed intake of the goats fed water hyacinth compound silage was 2 152 g/d, the average daily gain was 122 g/d, and the feed conversion ratio was 6.6. The results indicate that compound silage of water hyacinth dehydrated by extruding ensilaged with other substrates and additives can be used as roughage for goats, which provides a better than average production level for goats. ［Chinese Journal of Animal Nutrition，2011，23（2）：330-335］