Haematological and biochemical parameters of West Africa Dwarf goats fed pleurotus tuber regium biodegraded groundnut shells included diets

Abstract

A total of twenty (20) West African Dwarf (WAD) bucks with an average weight of 6.5 kg were used to study the Haematological and biochemical parameters. The animals were weighed and randomly distributed into five treatment groups of four animals per treatment diets containing varying levels of undegraded ground nut shells (UGNS) and Pleurotus tuber regium biodegraded ground nut shells (PT-GNS) in a Completely Randomized Design for the feeding trial (T1=100% UGN, T2=75% UGN + 25% PT-GNS, T3= 50% UGN + 50% PT-GNS, T4= 25% UGN + 75% PT-GNS and T5= 100% PT-GNS) such that each animal served as a replicate. Feed and water were provided at lib libitum. Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein of the 20 WAD goats at the 84th day of the feeding trail. Three milliliter (3ml) of blood collected from each of these goats were stored in plastic sample bottles containing EDTA (ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid) for haematological and serum biochemistry study. The result showed all haematological parameters showed significance (P<0.05) difference except mean corpuscular volume. Serum biochemistry also showed significance (P<0.05) difference except for calcium and urea. The study concluded that for groundnut shells to make a substantial contribution to ruminant nutrition, it must be treated in some ways to improve its nutritional potentials and make it easier for rumen microbes to attack the fibre.