Survey of cattle rearing by herdsmen in Lagos State, Nigeria

The incidence of clashes between herders and crop farmers elsewhere necessitated the survey of cattle rearing by herdsmen in Lagos State to obtain baseline information on the herders, their cattle and the commonly grazed forages. Self-administered questionnaires were administered on the herders in Epe, Badagry and Ikorodu Local Government areas being the agrarian zones of Lagos State. Data obtained were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results on the socio-economic characteristics showed that all the respondents that reared cattle were male and mostly (77%) married. About 70% of respondents have been in the business for over 20 years. 70% of the farmers attended only Quranic school. They mostly (63%) lived with their family who assisted in milk processing. The breeds of cattle reared were White Fulani (50%), Keteku (20%), Sokoto Gudali (20%) and others 10%. The herd size of respondents varied between 11-20 bulls (73%), 16-30 cows (57%) and 20 calves (50%). Most (57%) of the herders grazed their cattle for one to four hours daily. Respondents (67%) also reported incidence of clashes with crop farmers which were settled by the community leaders through restitution. Continuous grazing was mostly (70%) practiced. The commonest forages selected were; Panicum maximum, Chromolaena odorata, Sida acuta, Centrosema pubescens and Tridax procumbens. It is concluded that cattle herders and the residents cohabit in Lagos State

Effect of spent mushroom substrate on the growth performance and economy of production of rabbits

A nine week feeding study was conducted to determine the effect of spent mushroom substrate (SMS) as a replacement for wheat offal on the growth performance and economy of production of rabbits. The study was conducted at the rabbitary unit of the department of animal production, School of Agriculture, Lagos state polytechnic, Lagos. A total of twenty-four rabbits were allotted to four treatment groups, replicated three times with two rabbits per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). SMS was incorporated into the rabbit diets at 0%, 25%, 50% and 75% level of inclusion to replace wheat offals. Performance was evaluated based on feed intake, live weight gain, feed conversion ratio, protein intake and protein efficiency ratio. The economy of production was also determined. Feed intake increased as the level of SMS inclusion increased. The weight gain/day of those rabbits fed diet 3 (15.08g) was the highest while those fed diet 2 (12.83g) had the lowest weight gain. The feed conversion ratio adjudged diet 1 (4.72) better than other diets. The cost /kg of feed reduce as the level of inclusion of SMS increased, from N90.06 to N79.85. Rabbits on the control diet had the best cost of feed /kg weight gain (N425.08) followed by those on diet 4. Best returns/profit was in diet 4. Conclusively SMS can be used to replace wheat offal at 75% level with no adverse effects on rabbit performance.Keywords: Spent Mushroom Substrate, Wheat offals, Weaned Rabbits, performance cos

Studies on the efficacy of Spigelia anthelmia extract as anthelminthic in growing goats

Spigelia anthelmia is an important herbal remedy for worm infestation, neurologic disorder, pericarditis and other diseases of the heart that is continuously being used in traditional medical and homeopathic practices. Aqueous extract of Spigelia anthelmia leaf (AESAL) was administered orally to growing goats to determine its effect on gastrointestinal parasite of growing goats. Eighteen  growing goats were randomly allotted to three treatments with each treatment replicated thrice. Goats in treatment served as the control receiving no treatment, those in treatment 2 and 3 were administered with AESAL at a dose of 1.5ml/Kg body weight and 2ml/Kg body weight respectively. The phytochemical content of AESAL was determined using standard analytical procedure. Result revealed that AESAL contained 8.14±0.26 mg/g alkaloids, 145±1.49 mg/g tannin, 19.26±1.25 mg/g Saponin, and  6.7±0.92 mg/g flavonoid and 1.65±0.02 mg/g polyphenol. Round worm and liver fluke are the prevalent helminthes in the study area and the different doses of AESAL significantly (P<0.05) reduced the mean egg count (epg) of helminthes. The study revealed that AESAL is an effective anthelmintic in goats and dosage of 2ml/Kg body weight is the most effective as it resulted in total deparatization at 21 days post treatment.Keywords: Spigelia anthelmia; leaf extract; phytochemical; anthelminthic; growing goats

Growth performance, haematological characteristic and serum biochemistry of Japanese quails fed with diets containing African pear seed meal

The growth, haematological characteristics and serum biochemistry of one hundred and thirty-five Japanese quails fed diets    containing African Pear Seed Meal (APSM) was investigated in a completely randomised design experiment with five treatments and each treatment was replicated three times. APSM was fed at 0%, 15%, 30%, 45% and 60% levels of inclusion as partial and  total replacement for maize. Data collected included average feed intake (AFI), average weight gain (AWG), specific growth rate (SGR), operating protein efficiency ratio (PER), feed conversion ratio (FCR), haemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), white blood cell (WBC), red blood cell (RBC), Mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean   corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) serum total protein (PRO), Albumin (ALB), glucose (GLU), creatinine (CREAT), cholesterol (CHOL) and Alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Results revealed that the increasing level of inclusion of APSM significantly (P<0.05) depressed the weight gain, specific growth rate, protein efficiency ratio, and feed conversion ratio of the birds. The   increasing level of APSM significantly (P<0.05) influenced all the haematological variables except RBC and serum biochemical variables except ALB and CREAT. Birds fed with diet containing 15% had the optimum performance; hence, APSM can be   included at 15% in the diets of quails.Keywords: African pear seed, quail birds, Nutritional values, Haematology, Blood Biochemistr