Журнал питания и пищевых наук
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Hematology and Serum Biochemical Indices of West African Dwarf Goats Fed Shea Nut Cake Multi-Nutrient Blocks as Supplements to Daniella oliveri Based Diet

Olayinka A. Ojo*, Dupe Ogunbosoye

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.