Comparative study of some biochemical and physiological profile among Nigerian sheep

Physiological and biochemical data of the four breeds of sheep were collected from Bauchi, Kastina, Nasarawa and Anambra States for Balami, Uda, Yankasa and West Africa Dwarf sheep, respectively using a multi-stage sampling method. A total of 46 Balami (18 males and 28 females), 30 Uda (5males and 25 females), 36 Yankasa (9 males and 27 females) and 37 WAD (7 males and 30 females) were sampled. Sampling was done from the selected States based on distance from one another and an abundance of sheep. Data were collected during the hottest season of November to March. Blood samples were collected from 60 adult sheep out of the entire population for the study. Blood samples were collected from jugular vein puncture using a 5ml syringe, and the samples were then transferred into well-labelled ethylene diamine tetra acetate (EDTA) bottles. Data collected for the study were analyzed using the General Linear Model Procedure of SAS using the fixed-effect model that incorporated breed, sex and age of the sheep. The pulse rate of adult Balami sheep was higher than what was obtained from the other three breeds (P<0.01). The pulse rate for Balami sheep was 94.33±6.50 beats per minute as against those of WAD, Uda and Yakasa (77.42±8.38, 76.85±8.38 and 72.80±7.84 beats per minute, respectively). Adult WAD, Yankasa and Balami had similar (p>0.05) respiratory rate (73.92±8.73, 71.20±7.73, 69.33±6.40 breath per minute, respectively). The values for the three breeds were higher than 67.76±8.16 breath per minute obtained for Uda sheep. The rectal temperature of adult Balami (39.29±0.21oC) and Yankasa (39.21±0.25oC) were similar but differed from the values obtained for adult WAD sheep (38.40±0.29oC). Malondialdehyde (MDA) is not a good marker for monitoring heat stress among breeds of sheep in Nigeria because breeds did affect (p>0.05) the activity level of MDA. Metabolic markers like thyroid, cortisol hormones level and glucose could also be used in the future. Pulse rate had a high and positive correlation (0.452; P<0.01) with an atmospheric temperature of Balami sheep. Moderate and positive correlations (0.265, 0.221; P<0.05) were obtained between pulse rate and temperature of Uda sheep and WAD, respectively. Molecular markers of biochemical and heat stress such as like heat shock protein (HSP) should be used to study the diversity of sheep breeds in Nigeria. Keywords: Biochemical, Nigeria, physiological profile, sheep, heat stress

INFLUENCE OF AWARENESS OF DIETARY CHOLESTEROL ON CONSUMPTION OF CHICKEN EGGS IN ZARIA

Structured questionnaires were administered on 228 respondents within Zaria and its environs to evaluate the acceptability of chicken egg as food despite its cholesterol content. The study was conducted between May and June, 2009. The questionnaires were retrieved; collated and data analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The data were analyzed for frequencies and correlated relationships between the measured attributes. The results indicate equal distribution between male (49.6%) and female (50.4%) respondents. The highest percentage of the respondents was between the active age group of 20 to 50 years of age. Most of the individuals interviewed were either single (59.2%) or married (33.3%). About 70% of the respondents had tertiary education while the rest had secondary (27.2%) and primary (3.1) education. The respondents were mainly students, civil servants, academics and private business people and their corresponding respective frequencies were 98, 60, 19 and 51, respectively. Almost all (93.4%) the respondents liked chicken egg as food. 63.2% of the respondents ate an egg per meal while 7% of them did not eat egg at all. Age and profession of respondents significantly (P<0.05) affected respondents’ likeness for chicken egg. This study therefore, shows that the higher the level of education the more the fear of the cholesterol in chicken eggs

Influence of age distribution on zoometric characteristics of some selected cattle breeds in Nigeria

A study was conducted to determine the effect of age among Adamawa Gudali, Sokoto Gudali, Bunaji and Rahaji breeds of cattle. A multistage approach was used to select the breed of cattle from the States with large population of agro-pastoralists that rear Adamawa Gudali, Sokoto Gudali Bunaji and Rahaji cattle breeds. Four States were selected for the purpose of this study. Four (4) Local Government Areas (LGA) from Adamawa and Taraba States, three (3) Local Government Areas from Gombe State and two (2) Local Government Areas from Sokoto State were purposively selected. Snowball method was used to sample 1008 cattle consisting of 162 Adamawa Gudali, 306 Sokoto Gudali, 234 Bunaji and 306 Rahaji cattle from agro-pastoralist in many communities of the LGAs. Each breed sampled was grouped into three (3) age categories on the bases of sex, that is, male (168) and female (168) weaner, male (168) and female (168) young and; male (168) and female (168) adult. Age of the cattle were determined using teeth count. Data collected on biometric traits of cattle were subjected to General Linear Model procedure of the statistics software SAS statistical package to determine the effect of age, sex and breeds on some zoometric characteristics of cattle. Generally, body weight of cattle increases with increase in age across the age categories. Body weight was positively and highly correlated (p&lt;0.01) with biometric traits of cattle. Most of the biometric traits of cattle increased with increase in age. High and positive relationships existed between body weight and biometric traits of cattle

Survivability of lambs in relation to their dam's haemoglobin variants

A total of 65 Yankasa, 23 Uda and 16 Balami ewes were mated to 4 Yankasa, 3 Uda and 3 Balami rams in a diallel breeding pattern to produce 192 lambs within 9 genotypes, which were used to study survivability of lambs in relation to their dam's haemoglobin variants. Blood samples (5ml) were collected from 104 ewes and 10 rams through jugular venepuncture. Electrophoresis was carried out in a Shandon electrophoresis tank on cellulose acetate strips.Each of the 9 lamb genotypes had very high proportion of HbAB. The dam's haemoglobin type BB (HbBB) were only found in YK X YK, UD X UD, YK X UD, BL X YK and BL X UD lambs at birth and 90-Day. Survivability of lamb that were given birth to by dams with haemoglobin type AB (HbAB) is highest in the studied populations from birth to 360-Day. Lambs with HbAB should be selected for improved survivability of sheep in Northern Nigeria

Hierarchical cluster analysis of yearling body weight and linear body measurements of sheep of Northern Nigeria and their crosses

This study was conducted at the Sheep Project Unit of Small Ruminant Research Programme (SRRP) of National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI), Ahmadu Bello University, Shika, Zaria. Balami, Uda and Yankasa breeds (sheep of Northern Nigeria) were crossed . A total of 65 Yankasa, 23 Uda and 16 Balami ewes were served by 4 Yankasa, 3 Uda and 3 Balami rams. The diallel breeding pattern produced 192 lambs. However, only the 65 yearling that survived up to 12 months of age (yearling) were used for this study. The yearling body weight and linear body measurement data were analysed using General Linear Model (GLM) procedures of SAS with model that incorporated lamb genotype as fixed effects. Pairwise difference was used to separate the mean (SAS, 2003). Distances were used to construct dendrogram using the Unweighted Pairs Group Method Analysis implemented in R 2.13.0 package. TREE procedure that prints the dendrogram based on the distances between the clusters was introduced in PROC CLUSTER procedure. Yearling genotype affected body weight and all the linear body measurements considered in this study (P&lt;0.05). The pure Balami yearling (BL X BL) had the highest birth weight at 12 months of age (29.10±4.02kg). Clumping structure of yearling body weight among sheep of Northern Nigeria and their crosses were grouped into two clusters at distance 2.656. Pure Balami (BL X BL) formed the first cluster while the rest of the genotypes belong to the second cluster. The second cluster was further divided into two sub-groups at 0.796. The first sub-group had yearlings from pure Uda (UD X UD), Uda ram and Yankasa ewe (UD X YK), Uda ram and Balami ewe (UD X BL), Balami ram and Uda ewe (BL X UD) and Yankasa ram and Uda ewe (YK X UD) at 0.514. Similar clumping structures with two clusters share among the nine genotypes at varied distances were recorded for all the linear body measurements studied. Patterns of similarities were established for yearling body weight and linear body measurements among sheep of Northern Nigeria and their crosses. Improvement plans for yearling growth traits of sheep in Nigeria should consider the genotypes with divergent genetic distances as sires and dams. This will ensure the best exploration of positive heterosis

Measures of relationships and association among body weight and biometric traits of donkeys in Northwest Nigeria

Body linear measurements of different age categories of donkeys were used to predict the body weight of donkeys using stepwise regression procedure. This work was conducted to estimates the live body weight of donkeys from biometric traits. A total of 700 donkeys were measured into three age groups (weaners 6 months- 1 year, young above 1- 3 years and adults 3 years and above). Morphometric measures taken were body weight, head length, head width, ear length, neck length, neck circumference, shoulder width, height at withers, heart girth, body length and tail length using random sampling technique. Significant variations were observed in morphometric (P&lt;0.05, P&lt;0.01) traits. The results of the study showed that significantly (P&lt;0.01) predicted body weight of these donkeys with good efficiencies were neck circumference (NC), tail length (TL) and body length (BL) were the best predictors of body weight with R2= 100% in weaners, head width (HWD), neck circumference (NL), neck circumference (NC) and height at withers (HW) with R2= 100% in young and HW, HG with R2 = 100% in adult category. The traits were significantly (p&lt;0.05, 0.01) and positively correlated amongst themselves (r=0.09-0.87).It is therefore concluded that the inclusion of two variables improved the prediction marginally, but the addition of further variables gave little further improvement. The association may be useful as selection criterion, since positive correlations of traits suggest that the traits are under the same gene action (pleiotropy/linkage). It is therefore recommended that tail length, neck circumference, body length, height at withers and heart girth should be used as the best predictors of body weight across the sex and age categories of donkeys. Keywords: Association, Biometric traits, Body weight, donkey, Nigeria, Relationship

Characterization of young donkeys in north west Nigeria using morphometric traits

Morphometric traits were used to determine the relationship among Red (Auraki), Black (Duni), White (Fari), Brown (Idabari) and Brown-white (Idabari-fari) for young donkeys. A total of 210 young donkeys were used for the study. Morphometric measures taken were head length, head width, ear length, neck length, neck circumference, shoulder width, height at withers, heart girth, body length and tail length. Data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis to determine the distribution of phenotypic traits across classes based on morphometric traits. The effect of strain, sex, location and interaction on certain linear body  measurements were estimated using the GLM procedure of the statistics analysis software SAS statistical package. There were variations in the morphometric traits of the donkeys due to strain, sex and location effects with white donkeys exhibited the  heaviest  body weight (126.78kg) for young donkeys from Kaduna state while the least body weight (98.89±6.68cm) was  recorded in Fari strain of donkey from Katsina state. The coefficient of variation was fairly uniform at the young stage except   shoulder width (13.0%) and tail length (14.8%) which were moderate. Sexual dimorphism  exist in the body size measures of  donkeys with females having heavier body weight (120.7kg) and larger heart girth (106.2cm). Zoometric phenotypic  differentiations exist among the observed strains of donkeys in the Northwestern Nigeria. Further studies should be carried out on molecular studies for determination of diversity that exists among young donkey strains.Key words: Donkey, morphometric, characterization, traits, young and body measuremen

Mathematical Modelling of Egg Production Curves of Shikabrown® Parents

This study was conducted to evaluate egg production curves of Shikabrown® parents, using mathematical models. A total of 200 birds: 100 from each of the two strains of Shikabrown® parents (sire and dam) lines at the Breeding Unit of Poultry Research Programme, National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI) were used for the study. The birds were obtained from the selected lines (sire and dam) and were denoted as Strain A and Strain B, respectively. Body weight (BWT), age at sexual maturity (ASM), egg number (EGGNO), and egg weight (EWT) were examined. Four non-linear models (Logistic, Richard, Gompertz, and Exponential) and a linear model were used to predict the efficiency of weekly bodyweight and egg production traits. The adequacies of the models were fitted using R Package, version 3.0.3. High coefficients of determination for BWT (R2 = 0.84 - 0.93) were recorded in the models for both Strains. Strain A had higher R2 (0.93) for BWT in Richard, Gompertz and Exponential models while Strain B recorded (R2 = 0.89) in Logistic, Richard and Gomprtz models. High coefficient of determination was obtained in a reproductive trait; egg number; in which almost all the models gave (R2 = 0.70). Exponential model recorded a higher R2 (0.93) for EGGNO in strain A. EWT in strain A recorded higher R2 (0.96) coefficient of determination across the four nonlinear models except linear model with (R2 = 0.95) for egg weight. Significant differences (P&lt;0.05) were observed in the birds' performance for BWT and EWT, with strain B having a higher BWT (1.59±0.01) and Strain A having a higher EWT (48.75±0.17). Similarly, age of birds in lay had a concomitant significant differences (P&lt;0.05) in their BWT as well as their EWT. The birds performed better for BWT and EWT in week 26 and 27 for both Strains. It was concluded that Strain significantly (P&lt;0.05) had effect on BWT and EWT of Shikabrown® parent with Stain B performing better than Strain A in the former trait and strain A better than strain B in the latter trait. R2 identified differences between Strains in predicting egg production traits. Strain B was adjudged good and profitable because the Strain had the highest mean values in body weight and egg number and it is being recommended as one of the lines for future improvement of Shikabrown®. Keywords: Mathematical models, Egg Production Curves, Body weight, ASM, Egg Number, Egg weigh

Exploratory principal components analysis of growth traits in Red Sokoto goats

Growth traits of Red Sokoto goats were evaluated using 387records generated from goats raised under semi-intensive system of management at National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI), Shika, Zaria, Nigeria. Sex, type of birth, birth weight (BWT), weaning weight (WWT),12-month weight (WT12), adjusted weaning weight, season of birth and weaning were subjected to multivariate factor analysis with varimax rotation using IBM® SPSS® Version 21. Season of birth and weaning were classed into Season 1 (January-June) and season 2 (July-December). The factor scores and growth traits were subjected to stepwise regression procedure of SAS. The variables WWT, CWT, WT12 and sex combined to form the first principal component (PC1). Birth weight and season of birth formed the second component (PC2). Weaning season was the only outstanding variable in the third component. Predicted BWT of kids is expected to increase with increasing PC1 and PC2, but decrease with increasing PC3. Similar prediction pattern is obtained for CWT. However, predicted WT12 is expected to increase with increasing PC1, PC2 and PC3. Variability of growth traits of Red Sokoto goats at birth and thereafter up to 12 month of age are closely linked with season at which goats were given birth and weaned, respectively. The similarity of intercepts of regression equations and those of average values for growth traits in this study indicated the possibility of improvement of goat stocks through the principal components. Goat farmers and breeders are advised to increase efforts in improving the environmental conditions of their stocks because birth season is highly correlated with PC2 (birth characteristics). Also, weaning season (PC3) should be controlled to favour improved weaning weight of Red Sokoto goats.Keywords: Exploratory PCA, Red Sokoto goats, growth traits, prediction equation

Cattle milk processing and marketing characteristics among agro-pastoralists in North West Nigeria

The study was aimed at analysing the fundamental characteristics of milk collection, processing and marketing among agro-pastoralists in North West Nigeria. A three stage (multi-stage) sampling technique was used for the study. The first stage is the purposive selection of four States (Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano and Katsina States purposively selected based on the high concentration of agro-pastoralists). In the second stage, two Local Government Areas (LGA) from each of the State were purposively selected. The third stage involved the use of snowball sampling method for the selection of communities where agropastoralist were interviewed using structured questionnaire. Two communities were selected per LGA. Data were collected from 157 respondents from the target population out of sampled agro-pastoral households. The survery instrument was pretested and subjected to face validity. The data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentages. The average length of time for milk storage before processing was 1 hour and 41 minutes. Pasteurization was the method of choice used to prevent milk spoilage by 63.8% of respondents in all the States considered in this study. Almost all (91.2%) of the respondents market their milks. Spoilage of milk during the period before processing was reported as the highest constraint to milk production, processing and marketing in all the four States. Inadequate equipment and milk loss during processing were also reported as constraints by 18.9 and 14.7%, respectively. Low quality of milk, especially during dry season, also constitute a constraint to about 4% of the respondents. The agro-pastoralists in North West Nigeria are engaged in peasantry profitable ventures of milk processing and marketing. Most of them are not members of groups and cooperatives. Their volume of trade in milk processing and marketing can be greatly enhanced if they are organized into productive groups along the value chain. Past efforts at organizing milk processors and marketers into groups and cooperatives need to be revisited by relevant agencies of government and non-government organizations. Keywords: Agro-pastoralists, milk processing; milk marketin