Blood chemistry and carcass yield of cockerels fed melon husk diets

No Abstract

Growth performance, nutrient intake and digestibility of goats fed melon husk and palm oil slurry at 30% inclusion level

A 126- day study was conducted to determine growth, nutrient intake and digestibility of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats fed melon husk (MH) and palm oil slurry (POS) as replacement for maize offal at 30% in concentrate diets. Sixteen goats weighing 6.5 – 7.0kg were randomly assigned to 4 dietary treatments at 4 replicates of each. Dietary treatments included control (Diet 1): 0% MH 0% POS; Diet 2: 30% MH 0% POS; Diet 3: 0% MH 30% POS; and Diet 4: 30% MH 30% POS; supplemented with Panicum maximum (grass). Data collected were statistically analysed and results showed that animals on control Diet (Diet 1) had the highest (P<0.05) average daily weight gain of 31.57g/day, and a corresponding highest (P<0.05) feed intake of 365. 97g/day and best feed conversion ratio of 11.59. Animals fed Diet 3 had lowest (P<0.05) average daily weight gain of 19.42g/day, with corresponding lowest (P<0.05) dry matter intake of 334.94g/day and poor feed conversion ratio of 17.24, respectively. Variations in dry matter, organic matter and crude fibre (CF) intake were significant (P<0.05). Crude protein (CP) intake decreased progressively from diet 1 to 4, but not significantly (P > 0.05). CF intake was highest in diet 4 (124.6g) and lowest in diet 1(64.72g). Ether extract (52.80g), Ash (21.48g), Neutral detergent fibre (222.88g), and lignin (60.64g) were highest in diet 4. Dry matter digestibility was highest in animals on diet 2 (86.31%) and lowest in those on diet 4 (72.28%). It was evident that goats could be fed MH and POS at the inclusion levels adopted in this study except at 30% POS inclusion level at which growth was poorest.Keywords: Growth Performance, Nutrient Intake, Digestibility of Goats, Fed Melon Husk and Palm Oil Slurr

Quality characteristics of chevon obtained from goat fed melon (Colocynthis citrillus) husk and palm (Elaeis guineensis) oil slurry

A study was undertaken to determine effect of nutritional value of melon (Colocynthis citrillus) husk (MH) and palm (Elaeis guineensis) oil slurry (POS) on quality of chevon obtained from West African Dwarf (WAD) goats finished on four diets viz. diet 1 (0% MH, 0% POS); diet 2 (50% MH, 0% POS); diet 3 (0% MH, 50% POS) and diet 4 (50% MH, 50% POS). All animals were fed a basal diet of Panicum maximum ad libitum. After sixty days, eight goats (two goats per treatment) were slaughtered and muscles obtained from their forelegs. A sample of the raw meats was taken for pH measurement and Fatty acid analyses while the remaining was cooked by boiling and used for proximate analysis, cooking and refrigerated losses, and sensory evaluation. Data were subjected to one – way analysis of variance in a completely randomized design. Percent dry matter of the experimental diets ranged from 89.53% to 89.81%. The cooking weight loss for chevon showed no significant (P>0.05) difference but refrigerated weight loss (drip loss) showed significant (P<0.05) difference due to diets; lowest values were recorded on diets 2 (0.96g) and 4 (0.91g), respectively. Chevon obtained from animals fed diet 3 had the lowest percent crude protein content (21.51%) and highest cooking and refrigeration losses of 4.44% and 23.51%, respectively. Chevon obtained from all the diets fed gave significant (P<0.05) lower percentage values for linolenic acid compare with the control, while chevon from goats fed diet 3 gave a reduced percentage value of saturated fatty acids. In all the parameters considered for sensory evaluation, only flavour and saltiness showed significant (P<0.05) difference. It was concluded that Melon husk and palm oil slurry can be added at the various inclusion rates in this study depending on consumer preferences for either nutrient qualities or sensory properties of meat.Keywords: Chevon, West African dwarf goats, Melon husk, Palm Oil Slurry

Prevalence of Swine Diseases in Ijebu Division of Ogun State

This study was carried out by visiting 20 towns/ villages in Ijebu-division of Ogun State, where a total of 5,043 pigs were observed for various disease conditions. Blood and faecal samples and skin scrapings were collected from 137 sick animals, of which 3.65% were positive for the presence of Trypanosoma brucei. The following gastrointestinal nematode eggs were found in the faecal samples evaluated: Ascaris sp. (45.26%), Strongyles (10.22%), Strongyloides sp. (5.11%) and Trichuris sp. (2.92%). Sarcoptes scabiei which was the only ectoparasite of pigs encountered in this study accounted for 12.41% of the 137 skin scrapings collected. A total of 606 out of 5,043 animals were found to be clinically sick. Identified disease conditions include wound infection (33.50%), diarrhoea (22.11%), piglet anaemia (15.84%), mange (10.89%), tail sore (6.44%), foot rot (4.95%), mastitis (2.97%), metritis (1.82%) and pneumonia (1.49%). Keywords: Prevalence, Swine Diseases, Parasites, Ogun State

Short Communication: Visual assessment, proximate composition and cost analysis of three differently processed discarded vegetable-bovine blood-rumen content mixtures

With increased search for least-cost alternative feed resource in animal production, this study was conducted to determine the visual properties, chemical composition and cost analysis of three differently processed discarded vegetable-bovine blood-rumen content mixture as potential alternative feed resource. These mixtures were obtained by mixing whole bovine blood, discarded vegetable and rumen content at ratio 1:1:1 under different processing methods. The processed mixtures obtained were in three categories: discarded vegetable-fresh bovine blood-fresh rumen digesta (D1), discarded vegetable-ensiled bovine blood-fresh rumen digesta (D2) and discarded vegetable-fresh bovine blood-ensiled rumen digesta (D3). The mixtures were cooked and sun-dried to constant moisture content and thereafter were subjected to particle size reduction. Chemical composition of the products indicated a good potential nutritional quality with metabolizable energy and crude protein contents ranging from 9.66 to 10.49 MJ/kg and 40.79 to 50.21, respectively. Crude fibre concentrations were relatively low (8.39-13.14) for most of the products compared to conventional protein sources. Visual assessment of processed mixtures revealed D1 to be brownish in colour while D2 and D3 tend towards grey. In terms of odour, all three test mixtures were strongly pungent. Processed mixture D1 had an intermediate texture (it was neither finely ground nor coarse) where D2 and D3 had a finely ground texture. Cost analysis revealed a lower production cost for the three processed mixtures indicating its adequacy to replace soybean and other plant and animal protein sources in terms of their cost/kg inclusion in diet. Processed mixtures can serve as suitable replacements for soybean meal in terms of chemical constituents and reduced cost/kg feed for animal.Keywords: Bovine blood, rumen digesta, discarded vegetable, visual assessment, proximate composition, cost analysis