Hematology and Serum Biochemical Indices of West African Dwarf Goats Fed Shea Nut Cake Multi-Nutrient Blocks as Supplements to Daniella oliveri Based Diet
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Date
2022
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Abstract
Goats are hardy, with small body size, broad feeding habits and short reproductive cycle. However, dry season is
usually accompanied by low forage growth and reduced nutrients therefore resulting into undergrazing and reduced
performance. This study is evaluating the inclusion of shea nut cake multi-nutrient blocks compacted using three
different binders; cassava flour, cement, industrial starch (T1, T2 and T3 respectively), as dry season supplement.
Effects of this dietary inclusion were evaluated on the hematology and serum biochemical indices of the experimental
goats. Result showed that the highest Red Blood Cell (RBC) value 17.73 ± 0.23 103/ul was recorded in T2, serum
low density lipoprotein (LDL), Alanine amino transferase (ALT), Urea, were significantly lower assigned to treatment
2 as compared to the control. The values recorded for Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) ranged between 41.68 to 64.02,
with experimental goats in treatment 3 having the lowest value. The bilirubin of goats (2.74 mg/dl) was observed
to be significantly lowest in treatment 3 compared to the control value. The highest total protein (TP) (10.50 g/
dl) recorded in treatment 2 was significantly higher than the control and statistically similar to values obtained
for treatment 3 (10.05 g/dl). The highest level of serum cholesterol (63.37 mg/dl) was found in T3, although all
cholesterol values observed in this study falls within the normal physiological range. Industrial starch can be used as
shea nut cake multi-nutrient block binder without adverse physiological effect on experimental animals.
Keywords: Shea-nut cake; Nutrient block; Goat; Hematology; Serum biochemistry