Growth performance, blood profile and serum metabolites of West African dwarf growing rams fed guinea grass supplemented with differently processed pigeon pea leaves

A 56-day trial was conducted to investigate the performance and blood profile of West African Dwarf growing rams fed Panicum maximum with differently processed Pigeon pea leaves, twigs, and petioles (PPL). A total of sixteen (16) rams were randomly allotted to four treatments (T1 - 100% P. maximum solely), T2 - 70% P. maximum and 30% fresh PPL), T3 - 70% P. maximum and 30% wilted PPL and T4 - 70% P. maximum and 30% dried PPL) with four animals per treatment in a completely randomized design (CRD). Growth performance and blood analysis parameters such as initial and final weight, feed intake and leftover, packed cell volume, hemoglobin, total protein, albumin, glucose were evaluated. There were significant variation (P<0.05) in all the evaluated parameters. Fresh PPL recorded the highest crude protein (CP) (22.31%), followed by wilted (21.20 %), and the least (5.30 %) was obtained in P. maximum. The phytate contents of fresh, wilted and dried PPL were 1.29%, 1.28% and 1.26% respectively while tannin contents were 1.00, 0.85 and 0.79mg/100gm in fresh, wilted and dried PPL respectively. The feed intake (5.22kg) of each ram fed the T1 diet was higher (P<0.05) than those of T2 (3.50kg), T3 (5.05kg) and T4 (4.61kg). Average, daily and weekly weight gains varied (P<0.05) in the diets in T3>T4 >T2>T1 order, while feed conversion ratio ranged between 3.48 (T3) to 7.35 (T1). The packed cell volume (PCV) and haemoglobin (Hb) ranged from 36.00% in T4 to 38.00% in T1 and 12.50g/dl in T4 to 12.40g/dl in T1 respectively. T3 diet was observed to have the highest total protein (7.00 g/dl), albumin (3.30 g/dl) and globulin (4.40 g/dl) values. From the results of a significant number of evaluated parameters, T3 proved to be the best diet of this study. However, it was concluded that the supplementation of P. maximum with either fresh, wilted or dried PPL would increase the productivity of growing rams. Keywords: WAD rams; Cajanus cajan; Panicum maximum; haematology; serum metabolite

Effect of Manure Application on Herbage Yield, Nutritive Value and Performance of Wad Sheep Fed Panicum maximum

Effect of types of manure on herbage yield, nutritive value and performance of WAD Sheep fed native Panicum maximum was investigated. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with each plot replicated thrice. Poultry manure and sheep - goat manure were applied through broadcasting to an established Panicum maximum stand to supply 200kgN/ha and 0kgN/ha (control). Grass herbage harvested from experiment plot were fed as sole diets to West African dwarf sheep to determine feed intake (g/h/d), nutrient digestibility (%) and weight gain (g/h/d). Results showed that Panicum maximum fertilized with poultry manure produced (P<0.05) higher values for biomass yield, number of tillers, tiller height, leaf length and leaf width. The chemical composition of Panicum maximum fertilized with poultry manure produced (P<0.05) higher CP and GE compared to sheep-goat manure. Similar trend of result was observed on mineral composition of Panicum maximum fertilized with poultry manure produced (P<0.05) higher values for P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn and Cu compared to sheep-goat manure. The feed intake (g/h/d), nutrient digestibility (%) and weight gain of the animals fed Panicum maximum fertilized with poultry manure produced higher values compared to its counterpart. It was concluded based on data obtained from this study that poultry manure application will promote higher yield and nutritive value for the Panicum maximum. Animals fed with this as sole diet and as short feeding regime experienced high weight gain. Keywords: Poultry manure, sheep - goat manure, herbage yield, Panicum maximum, WAD Shee

Effect of Manure Application on Herbage Yield, Nutritive Value and Performance of Wad Sheep Fed Panicum maximum

Effect of types of manure on herbage yield, nutritive value and performance of WAD Sheep fed native Panicum maximum was investigated. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with each plot replicated thrice. Poultry manure and sheep - goat manure were applied through broadcasting to an established Panicum maximum stand to supply 200kgN/ha and 0kgN/ha (control). Grass herbage harvested from experiment plot were fed as sole diets to West African dwarf sheep to determine feed intake (g/h/d), nutrient digestibility (%) and weight gain (g/h/d). Results showed that Panicum maximum fertilized with poultry manure produced (P<0.05) higher values for biomass yield, number of tillers, tiller height, leaf length and leaf width. The chemical composition of Panicum maximum fertilized with poultry manure produced (P<0.05) higher CP and GE compared to sheep-goat manure. Similar trend of result was observed on mineral composition of Panicum maximum fertilized with poultry manure produced (P<0.05) higher values for P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn and Cu compared to sheep-goat manure. The feed intake (g/h/d), nutrient digestibility (%) and weight gain of the animals fed Panicum maximum fertilized with poultry manure produced higher values compared to its counterpart. It was concluded based on data obtained from this study that poultry manure application will promote higher yield and nutritive value for the Panicum maximum. Animals fed with this as sole diet and as short feeding regime experienced high weight gain

Development of a reproducible method to determine minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of plant extract against a slow-growing mycoplasmas organism

Mycoplasma species are fastidious bacteria that require a specialized medium for their growth, isolation and identification. There are no standardized tests to evaluate the in vitro susceptibility of mycoplasmas to medicinal plant extracts. A widely used in-broth, microtitre plate, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay was adapted and evaluated using acetone extracts of Anoigeissus leiocarpus on the isolates of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides small colony variants (MmmSC). Several problems were encountered including the contamination of the medium by Bacillus species found in plants and the fact that the slow-growing mycoplasmas proved to be poor reducers of the indicator tetrazolium salt or resorcinol. We then examined a pH indicator-dependant technique to detect the acid production caused by the growth of the organism after glucose utilization from the broth medium. The method gives a clear cut-off point that was easy to read and interpret and was also reproducible. The MIC value for acetone extract of A. leiocarpus was 0.16 mg/ml. The development of this method now makes it possible to evaluate extracts of several plant species for antimycoplasmal activity.National Research Foundation (NRF

Can MTT be used to quantify the antioxidant activity of plant extracts?

Antioxidant properties of three different medicinal plant extracts from northern Nigeria were evaluated using the traditional qualitative 2,2, diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH)method and a new 3-(4,5- dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2,5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide(MTT)microdilution method described here. The results were in agreement. It is a simple, rapid and inexpensive method compared with many other methods for determining quantitative antioxidant activity of plant extracts

Performance and Nutrient Digestibility of West African Dwarf goats fed Panicum maximum supplemented with Gmelina arborea leaves mixture

An experiment was carried out to investigate the performance and nutrient digestibility of twenty (20) growing West African Dwarf bucks, aged 4-6 months weighing between 6.50 9.00kg were fed varying levels of Gmelina arborea leaves and Panicum maximum as a basal diet for 56 days. The results showed that dry matter intake increased (P<0.05) with supplementation of Gmelina arborea leaves, with T (100% G. arborea leaves and 0% P. maximum) having the highest dry matter 5 intake (4.93kg) and T (50% G. arborea leaves and 50% P. maximum) have the least 3 value (4.03kg).Goats fed T (75% P. maximum and 25% G. arborea leaves) has the 2 highest weight gain (28.57g/day) followed by T (16.79g/day) while T (100% P. 3 1 maximum and 0% G. arborea leaves) has the least value of 5.54g/day. The nutrient digestibility trial showed that T diethas the highest dry matter digestibility (88.06%) 3 while T diet had the lowest value of 87.68, with no significant difference (p<0.05). 2 The highest (CP) digestibility (9.58%) and (CF) digestibility (22.53%) was recorded in T diet. Based on the result of this study, it can be concluded that Gmelina arborea 5 appeared to have the potential as protein feed supplements as well as serves as a good feed resource for modern intensive ruminant animal production at inclusion level of 75%Panicum maximum and 25% Gmelina arborea leaves for a better feed utilization, and at 100% Gmelina arborea leaves and 0% Panicum maximum to achieve best dry matter intake.Key words: WAD goats; legume; tropical grass; digestibilit

Time-series analysis of ruminant foetal wastage at a slaughterhouse in North Central Nigeria between 2001 and 2012

In developing countries, foetal wastage from slaughtered ruminants and the associated economic losses appear to be substantial. However, only a limited number of studies have comprehensively evaluated these trends. In the current study, secondary (retrospective) and primary data were collected and evaluated to estimate the prevalence of foetal wastage from cattle, sheep and goats slaughtered at an abattoir in Minna, Nigeria, over a 12-year period (January 2001 – December 2012). Time-series modelling revealed substantial differences in the rate of foetal wastage amongst the slaughtered species, with more lambs having been wasted than calves or kids. Seasonal effects seem to influence rates of foetal wastage and certain months in the year appear to be associated with higher odds of foetal wastage. Improved management systems are suggested to reduce the risk of foetal losses

Effect of storage place and storage period on nutritive quality of hay produced from three forage grasses

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of storage place and storage period on the proximate composition, in vitro gas production and post incubation parameters of hay produced from A. gayanus, B. decumbens and P. pedicellatum. The two storage places were in the room and in the shed while the storage periods were 4, 8 and 12 weeks. Results of this study showed that the dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), crude fibre (CF) and ash of the hays produced from the three grasses were significantly affected (P<0.05) by the interactive effect of the storage place, storage period and species. Brachiariadecumbens produced higher (P<0.05) DM (99.50%) in the shed at 4 weeks of storage (WS) and a lower DM (86.20%) in the room at 12 WS. Ether extract of Andropogongayanus and B. decumbens significantly (P<0.05) differed at both storage places and at the three storage periods. Brachiariadecumbens produced higher (P<0.05) (14.50%) and lower (4.50%) EE contents in the room at 4 and 12 WS respectively. Similarly, ash contents of the hays significantly (p<0.05) ranged from 3.50% in the storage of B. decumbens in the shed for 12weeks to 36.33% for storing P. pedicellatum in the room for 4 WS. Cumulative in vitro gas production of the  grasses though similar (p>0.05) increased over the incubation periods. The post incubation parameters of the hays were all  similar (p>0.05), except the organic matter digestibility (OMD) values (p<0.05).It is concluded that the CP contents of the three grasses fell below ruminant requirement and slightly declined with increase in storage period, thereby suggesting earlier harvesting before the onset of dry season and serious  lignification. Andropogongayanus and B. decumbens proved to be better hays vis-avis storage in the shed, higher crude protein and dry matter contents while P.pedicellatum possessed better ash contents. Conclusively, it is more economical to store grass hays in the shed as there was no distinct difference in the results  obtained in the two storage places.Keywords: Grasses; Hay; Nutritive quality; Storage