Performance and Nutrient Digestibility of West African Dwarf Goats Fed Different Dietary Levels of Cattle and Goat Rumen Contents

Hundreds of cattle and goats are slaughtered on daily basis in abattoirs and rumen contents are disposed in large amount as wastes, which could possibly serve as an alternative non-conventional feed source to ruminants. This study was carried out to investigate the utilization of cattle and goat rumen contents in the diets of West African dwarf goats.  Twenty five West African Dwarf goats were fed five treatment diets containing Cattle Rumen Content (CRC) and Goat Rumen Content (GRC) at 0%, 20% and 40% inclusion levels, respectively, using a completely randomized design. Daily feed intake and weekly weight gain were measured. Metabolism cages were used for total collection of faeces and urine. Dry Matter Intake, Organic Matter Intake and weight gain were similar (P>0.05) for all the treatments, although goats on diet 5 (40% GRC) had the least Dry Matter and Organic Matter digestibility. And OM digestibility of 58.58% observed in this study is still capable of supporting productivity in goats. Also, there was a gradual reduction in cost of feed from N26.45 at 0% RC to N18.53 at 20% CRC and GRC. In like manner, cost/kg live weight gain decreased from N33.86 at 0% RC to N16.93 for 40% CRC. The only exception was Diet 5 (40% GRC) which increased to N36.85 for cost/kg live weight gain. Cattle and goat rumen contents can therefore be incorporated in the diets of goats up to 40% inclusion level without any deleterious effect on their health, thereby minimizing cost of production

Influence of crop residue ration supplementation on the attainment of puberty and postpartum reproductive activities of Red Sokoto goats

The general objective of this study was to come up with an appropriate, affordable and locally available crop residue supplementation package that would enhance reproductive performance in small ruminants. Specifically, 28 Red Sokoto weaner does between 3 and 4 months of age weighing between 2 and 3 kg were used in the first experiment to determine the influence of crop residue supplementation on age and weight at puberty as determined by blood progesterone levels. In the second experiment, another 28 adult does (equal to or greater than 2 years old) of the same breed in the same flock with lactation numbers between 1 and 3 were used to determine the length of postpartum acyclic period. In both experiments, a 3 x 2 factorial experimental design comprising three dietary supplements (A, B, C) at two feeding levels (1% and 2% of body weight) fed in addition to a basal diet of Digitaria smutsii hay and natural pasture ad libitum with an unsupplemented negative control group (D) and four goats per treatment was utilized. In ration A, a conventional concentrate supplement consisting of maize, wheat offal, cottonseed cake and bonemeal was utilized; in rations B and C, the supplement consisted of guinea-corn bran, cowpea husk and groundnut haulms; and maize offal, groundnut shells and groundnut haulms respectively. Unsupplemented (ration D) weaner does reached puberty at a later age and had lighter body weights than all the others. Weaner does on ration 2A (concentrate fed at 2% of body weight) attained puberty at the earliest age and heaviest body weight, although the age at puberty was not significantly different from those on rations 1A (concentrate fed at 1% body weight), 1C and 2C. Blood progesterone profiles before and after puberty ranged from 0.05 to 9.0 ng/ml, respectively, and was highest in does fed rations A and C and least in the unsupplemented does. The mean interval between kidding and initiation of ovarian activity was 54.28 plus or minus 17.61 days and the mean interval between kidding and conception was 63.04 plus or minus 25.34 days. Only 25% of the unsupplemented does conceived again during the period under study compared with 100% in rations 1A, 2A, 1C and 2C; 75% in ration 2B and 50% in ration 1B. It was concluded that implementation of supplementary feeding in the dry season improves reproductive performance in the Red Sokoto doe. Furthermore, ration C, a crop residue-based ration, was a suitable dry season supplementation alternative to the expensive conventional concentrate ration for the smallholder goat farmer in the subhumid tropics of Nigeria

Converting Bush to Meat: A Case of Chromolaena odorata Feeding to Rabbits

Abstract: The feasibility of using Chromolaena odorata leaf meal (COLM) in the feed of rabbit was investigated in a study that lasted for twelve weeks. Chromolaena odorata leaves were harvested, dried, crumbled and incorporated into five iso-nitrogenous and iso-calorific diets at 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 % levels of inclusion. Feed intake, weight gain and digestibility of the rabbits were monitored using a completely randomized design. Results showed that DM intake (g/d) of 41.42, 32.86, 32.66, 24.65 and 26.72 for 0 (control), 10, 20, 30, and 40 % COLM diets respectively were not significantly different among diets that contained COLM, while only those of 10 and 20 % COLM diets compared favourably with that of the control diet. Weight gain (g/d) of the rabbits were not significantly different in the control (7.73), 10 % (6.30), 20% (6.64) and 30 % (4.12) COLM diets, while the least weight gain (3.0g/d) from 40 % COLM diet did not show any significant difference from those of other COLM diets. Feed conversion efficiency of the rabbits were found similar in all the diets (range = 0.11 in 40 % to 0.19 in 0 % COLM). Digestibility values were generally good, and were not significantly affected by diets in DM (58.57- 74.00%) and NFE (74.77- 81.94%) digestibilities. It is concluded that COLM can be incorporated into the feed of rabbits up to the level of 30% of the DM fed and still obtain good performance especially weight gain comparable to those fed on standard concentrate. Key words: Chromolaena odorata, digestibility, feed intake, rabbit, weight gai

Concentration of selected heavy metals in the hair, kidneys and livers of cattle and goats raised on in the oil and non – oil producing areas of Delta State

This study evaluated the levels of selected heavy metals namely: lead cadmium, mercury and chromium in the hair, kidneys and livers of cattle and goats reared on oil producing and non oil producing areas of Delta state, Nigeria. Samples of hair, kidneys and livers were collected from four purposively selected local government areas in four replicates, oven dried and digested with 20 mL of a 1:3 mixture of concentrated perchloric acid (HClO4) and trioxonitrate (v) acid (HNO3). A completely randomized design was used for the the study. Results showed that mean concentration (mg/kg) of lead in the hair (0.049) of cattle from the oil producing areas varied significantly from those of kidney (0.033) and liver (0.021). While mean lead concentration values showed non - significant variations in the organs obtained from cattle and goats in non oil-producing areas. Cadmium values (mg/kg) ranged from 0.010 to 0.045 in cattle and from 0.000 to 0.029 in goats with significant variations between the organs. Mean values of mercury concentration (mg/kg) in cattle were between 0.053 to 0.078 and 0.052 to 0.056 in goats from theoil producing areas. Mercury concentration in the organs of cattle in the non- oil producing areas varied significantly. Chromium concentration (mg/kg) of organs in cattle from the oil producing areas varied from 0.019 to 0.024 and 0.010 to 0.030 in the non -oil producing areas. Mean concentration in the hair, kidney and liver (0.010 - 0.046 mg/kg) of goats in both the oil producing areas and non - oil producing areas did not vary significantly. Also, in cattle, the effect of oil exploration was significant in the concentration of cadmium (0.016 vs 0.043) and chromium (0.016 vs 0.022) in the kidney as well as cadmium (0.010 vs 0.045), Hg (0.031 vs 0.053) and chromium (0.010 vs 0.019) in the liver. In goats, it was significant in the concentration of cadmium in the hair (0.000 vs 0.056) likewise mercury in the kidney (0.031 vs 0.055) of cattle as well as in the hair and liver of goats. Generally, the heavy metals were below or within the tolerable limits set by some regulatory bodies.Keywords: Heavy metals, hair, organs, maximum tolerant

Preliminary in vitro screening of some spices and medicinal plants from Edo and Rivers States, Nigeria for reducing enteric methane production in ruminants

Methane gas produced by ruminants during feed fermentation contributed to global warming as well as poor efficiency of food utilization.  Mitigating ruminal methane production through anti-microbial feed additive has serious health implications. A preliminary study of the potential of medicinal plants and spices from Edo and Rivers State, as possible replacement to antibiotic feed additives was carried out. Medicinal plants and  spices were purposefully sampled, dried at 40oC, milled and 10 mg was added with 190 mg of substrate in a preweighed nylon incubation bags. Bags and their contents were incubated using 30 mL of buffered rumen liquor in 100 mL syringes following the standard procedure of in vitro fermentation. Variables monitored were 24h total gas volume, short chain fatty acids (SCFA), methane (CH ) gas, dry matter degradability (DMD) as well as some chemical, cell wall and 4 anti-nutritive components. Results revealed that adding the medicinal plants and spices as feed additives did not depress gas production in most cases (19.5 – 29.50 mL, 17.75 – 30.00 mL and 12.00 – 29.00 mL for Edo medicinal plants, Edo spices and Rivers  medicinal plants respectively) and also did not depress DMD (> 50%). Azadirachta indica stem reduced CH4 production mostly by 53.56% while Dennttia tripetala did by 47.69% among the Edo medicinal plants and spices, respectively. In Rivers State, Amaranthus spinosus gave the highest value of 60.33% CH reduction. In the same bracket of similar and good CH4 reduction potentials were Alstonia boonei leaves (49.06%),  Newbouldia laevis root (41.50%), Euphorbia heterophyla (37.97%), Allium crispum (47.31%), Allium cepa (46.80%), Aframomum mueguata (46.54%), Capsicum annum (47.32%), Ageratum conyzoides (56.52%), Lagenaria breviflora (48.03%) and Centrosema molle (45.08%). All the medicinal plant and spices with potential for CH4 reduction had corresponding high SCFA 4 values (0.46 – 0.65 Mmol) with tannin (%) and saponin (%) contents of  0.011 – 17.50 and 0.01 – 2.40 respectively. Conclusively, the medicinal plants and spices demonstrated good potentials for reducing rumen methane production in vitro and may be subjected to further in vivo studies. Keywords: in vitro, spices, medicinal plants, methane production, ruminant