Comparative studies of nutrients intake and haemato-biochemical indices of bucks fed at three different times of the day

This study objective was to assess the effect of time of feeding on nutrients intake and haemato-biochemical indices of West African dwarf (WAD) bucks. Fifteen bucks with an initial live-weight of 7.50 ± 0.35 kg aged between 8 – 12 months were grouped into three treatments and five replicates for 115 days. The bucks were fed once daily in the morning, noon or evening either at 06:00, 12:00 or 18:00 hour for 90 days respectively under natural light-dark cycles. The experimental diets were Panicum maximum (Guinea grass) and concentrate diets at 50:50 % DM ratio. Serum glucose in evening fed-bucks was significantly higher (p<0.02) than noon and morning-fed buck. Nitrogen retention also increased from dawn to dusk with the morning-fed bucks (64.31 ± 3.79 %) having significantly lowest (p<0.02) value, while evening-fed bucks had the highest (74.73 ± 1.15 %) nitrogen retention. However, time of feeding did not significantly affect (p>0.05) nutrient digestibility, haematological parameters, total protein, lipid profile, and mineral utilization. Feeding animals in the evening or early hours of the morning may be healthy for livestock in a changing climate

Duplication of effort across Development Projects in Nigeria: An example using the Master Health Facility List

ObjectiveDuplication of effort across development projects is often the resultant effect of poor donor coordination in low and middle income countries which receive development assistance. This paper examines the persistence of duplication through a case study of health facility listing exercises in Nigeria.MethodsDocument reviews, key informant interviews and a stakeholder’s meeting were undertaken to identify similar health facility listing exercises between 2010 and 2016.ResultsAs an outcome of this process, ten different health facility listing efforts were identified.Discussions Proper coordination and collaboration could have resulted in a single list grown over time, ensuring return on investments. This study provides evidence of the persistence of duplication, years after global commitment to harmonization, better coordination and efficient use of development assistance were agreed to.ConclusionsThe paper concludes by making a proposal for strategic leadership in the health sector and the need to leverage information and communications technology through the development of an electronic Health Facility Registry that can archive the data on health facilities, create opportunity for continuous updates of the list and provide for easy sharing of the data across different country stakeholders thereby eliminating duplication