Academic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Research
 

Academic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Research 

Vol. 5(2), pp. 146-155. March, 2017.

ISSN: 2360-7874 

 DOI: 10.14662/ARJASR2017.007

Full Length Research

Haematological Parameters and Serum Biochemistry of West African Dwarf Sheep Fed Ensiled Cassava Tops and Guinea Grass Mixture

*¹Binuomote, R. T. and ²O. J. Babayemi

¹Department of Animal Production and Health,

Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, P.M.B. 4000, Ogbomoso, Nigeria.

*rbinuomote@lautech.edu.ng

²Department of Animal Science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan. Nigeria.

Accepted 20 February 2017

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of ensiled cassava tops and guinea grass mixture on haematological and biochemical indices of West African Dwarf Sheep. A total of 20 growing West African dwarf rams were used for the study. The rams were divided into five groups of five animals and each group was randomly allotted to one of the five diets in a completely randomized design. Guinea Grass (GG) and Cassava tops(CT) with four energy additives were ensiled and combined in ratio 6:3:1 into five treatments: 1 (GG + CT + cassava chips), 2 (GG + CT + Sorghum), 3 (GG + CT + millet grains), 4 (GG + CT + sugar ) and 5 (GG + CT + no additive). Results revealed significant(P<0.05) variations occurred for the haematological parameters measured except for the insignificant differences (P> 0.05) in white blood cell (WBC), Red Blood Cells (RBC), mean cell volume (MCV) and mean cell haemoglobin (MCH). The packed cell volume (PCV) ranged between 27.00% and 33.67%. The serum biochemical indices showed significant difference (P<0.05) among treatments for Total proteins, Albumin, urea, and Aspartate amino transaminase (AST), Alanine transaminase and (ALT) and Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and they ranged from 6.87-8.20g/dl; 3.42-4.56g/dl; 11.83-16.15mg/dl; 5.30-12.38 IU/l;11.49-27.40IU/l and 49.15-90.71 IU/l respectively. The study revealed that feeding ensiled Cassava tops and Guinea grass mixture to West African Dwarf ram had no deleterious effects on the haematological and serum biochemical parameters of WAD ram.

Keywords: Cassava tops, Haematology, Serum, Cassava leaves

 

How to cite this article: Binuomote, R.T., Babayemi O.J. (2017). Haematological Parameters and Serum Biochemistry of West African Dwarf Sheep Fed Ensiled Cassava Tops and Guinea Grass Mixture. Acad. Res. J. Agri. Sci. Res. 5(2): 146-155