No abstract

Moringa oleifera leaves may have the potential to enhance nutritional status, growth performance, and health of ruminant animals when used as part of their diets. However, the nutritional value of the leaves for goats is largely unknown and needs to be investigated. Consequently, eighteen West African Dwarf (WAD) bucks weighing 7.0 ± 0.33 kg were used in a completely randomized design to evaluate the effects of diluting a conventional supplement with three levels of M. oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) on growth performance, haematology, and blood biochemical constituents. The MOLM was included in the commercial supplement at a rate of 0, 50, and 100 g/kg dry matter (DM). Including MOLM in the supplement did not significantly affect weight gain, dry matter intake, and metabolic weight gain of bucks. Packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cell (RBC), haemoglobin concentration (hb), and total protein were not significantly influenced by MOLM inclusion, either. However, blood urea concentration was significantly increased in bucks that were offered MOLM-based diets. All blood parameters, as well as alanine transaminase (ALT) and urea, were within the normal reference ranges for clinically healthy goats. The MOLM-based supplements had significantly lower feed cost per kilogram of weight gain and higher profit per kilogram of gain. It was concluded that diluting the commercial supplement with MOLM up to 100 g/kg DM does not impair the nutritional status, growth performance and health status of the goats while reducing the feed cost per gain.

No abstract

A survey to characterise small ruminant system in semi-urban areas of Northern Nigeria with Katsina state as a case study was carried out with use of structured questionnaires. A total of 147 livestock farmers were randomly chosen for the study. The data obtained was analysed by descriptive statistics. The study revealed that majority (51%) of small ruminant keepers were within the age range of 18-30 years and most of them (71%) were males. The results also revealed that majority (71%) of the respondents had 1-10 years of experience in keeping sheep and goats, main source of foundation stock was through purchase (56%) and majority (60%) kept mixed herds of sheep and goats. The research also indicated that 44% of the farmers practise semi intensive system of management and that the respondents' mode of feeding the animals include grazing, grazing and browsing; and cut and carry. Grazing and browsing contributed 42% while purchase of feed accounted for 77%. It was further revealed that the types of feeds consumed by the animals were forage legumes with concentrates (53.4%) and forage grass with concentrates (26.1%) which accounted for 79.5% of the total feed consumed. The farmers owned their stock mostly through purchase and were reared under semi-intensive system of management for meat and milk production. Most of the animals were fed through grazing and browsing along with supplementary feeds obtained through purchase. It was then concluded that ruminant production in the area of study has a lot of prospect in productivity and profitability.

The efficacy of Moringa oleifera seed extract (MSE) in broiler nutrition is unknown. Thus, this study evaluated the effect of administering MSE through drinking water on physiological responses, carcass and meat quality traits, and bone parameters in Cobb 500 broilers. One-day-old male chicks (n = 250, 58.1 ± 0.23 g live-weight) were randomly allotted into five treatments of five replicates. The treatments were: negative control with drinking water only (NC); a positive control with 5 g probiotic (containing Aspergillus oryzae, Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecium, and Lactobacillus acidophilus; bacterial count of 5 × 108 CFU/g) added into 1 L of drinking water (PC), 60 mL MSE/L drinking water (MSE60); 90 mL MSE/L drinking water (MSE90); and 120 mL MSE/L drinking water (MSE120). The MSE groups promoted higher (p < 0.05) carcass weights than the PC and NC control groups. Spleen weights quadratically responded to MSE levels. Gizzard weight, duodenum length, acidic goblet cell count (GCC), and total duodenal and ileal GCC linearly increased with MSE levels. Tibia weight, bone breaking strength, and tibia calcium showed linear increases whereas tibia length and tibiotarsal index showed linear decreases with MSE levels. It can be concluded that the administration of MSE via drinking water improved carcass weights, intestinal morphology, and some meat and bone quality parameters of the birds.