2 research outputs found
Haematological and hepatic indices of cockerels fed treated dietary Blighia sapida seeds
Ninety-six day old Lairier cockerel chicks were used in an experiment
to evaluate the after effects of detoxifying (soaking, boiling,
addition of riboflavin and glycine to antagonize hypoglycins) dietary
Blighia sapida (ackee apple) seed meal, BSSM. Blood chemistry,
haematology, liver morphology indices which dietary BSSM influenced and
reflected in the performance characteristics of the cockerels
investigated in a single-factor experimental design experiment were
assessed. Results showed that the residual phytotoxins of BSSM,
hypoglycins A & B with their metabolite MCPA at 17.50% inclusion of
the processed BSSM in diets elicited reduction in glucose, protein,
albumin, globulin while elevating blood cholesterol, creatinine,
urea,total and conjugated bilirubin relative to the reference diet (p
<0.05).Dietary BSSM similarly increased the transaminase activities
of AST/SGOT, ALT/SGPT including ACP (p < 0.05). BSSM based diets
also caused significant reduction in PCV, RBC, WBC, Hb as well as MCV,
MCH and MCHC similar to the results obtained on WBC differential counts
of neutrophils and lymphocytes in comparison with the conventional diet
(p < 0.05). Histopathological examinations on the liver samples
revealed that the control diet presented livers that were normal in
tissue morphology without inflammation or haemorrhage while the
photomicrographs of the liver samples of cockerels fed treated dietary
BSSM at 17.50% inclusion showed morphological patterns indicating
severe distortion suggesting evidence of haemorrhage and inflammation
with numerous blood cells occupying the available hepatic sinuses. The
poor results recorded on the biochemical, haematological and
morphological parameters were reflected in performance characteristics
as reduced feed intake, weight gain, growth rate, feed efficiency and
high mortality were obtained on diets containing BSSM compared with the
orthodox diet (p < 0.05). Findings of this experiment indicated that
for optimum results, processed BSSM be included in diets below the
17.50% level considered high for the birds in this study