Pregnancy diagnosis is an important part of good management and helps to maximizereproductive performance. Over time, different methods for detection of pregnancy in cows and other female domestic animals have been developed which include observation, physical examination, chemical tests and electronic instruments. Seed germination inhibition technique was carried out to detect pregnancy in Zebu cows. The urine samples collected from four pregnant cows, four non pregnant cows, four bulls and water (control) were subjected to seed germination test using maize seeds. Urine was collected between 5 and 7 am. Pregnant cows were confirmed by rectal palpation. The pH of the urine samples was determined before and after dilution and consequently, the urea concentration was also analyzed in the laboratory. The urine was diluted at the ratio of 1:4 with distilled water. Control test was also carried out with the addition of water only to the maize seeds. In each sterile Petri dish fifteen maize seeds were taken on the filter paper and 15mL of diluted urine was added. The seed germination inhibition percentages were observed after five days while shoot length growth inhibition was also observed after five days. Germination inhibition percentage of pregnant cows (64.16%) was significantly (P<0.05) higher compared to nonpregnant cows (34.18%), bull urine and water control. Shoot length of seeds germinated with distilled water had the highest value (4.38cm), seeds germinated with bull urine and non pregnant cow urine showed similarities while seeds germinated with pregnant cow urine had the least value (1.37cm) across the observations for shoot length growth inhibition. The result on pH showed clear differences in the pH of urine from pregnant (8.11- 8.25), non pregnant cows (6.05-7.04) and bull urine (6.35-7.34). The pH of the urine samples for nonpregnant cow and bull urine samples were similar to that of the control. Urea concentration of pregnant cow urine (11.06 mg/dL) was higher than that observed in bull urine 4.56 mg/dL and non pregnant cow urine 1.39 mg/dL. The study was able to validate that at 60% and above inhibition there is an indication of pregnancy while inhibition less than 60% shows the cow is non pregnant. Increased mean germination inhibition percentage and reduced shoot length in pregnant cow urine were indicative of pregnancy state.
A total of fifty Wistar albino rats weighing 50-60g were randomly allocated to five dietary treatments in a completely randomized design to investigate the haematology, serum biochemistry and organ weight changes on diets containing processed dehulled jack bean. Four diets containing 10% crude protein were formulated to contain casein (T1)-control diet, dehulled jack bean soaked in filtrate obtained from 24hr water-steeped whole maize grains (T2), dehulled jack bean soaked in lye solution (T3), dehulled jack bean boiled for 15 minutes (T4) while a protein free diet served as a negative control (T5). The feeding trial lasted for 28days after which four rats per treatments were sampled to evaluate haematological and serum biochemical indices while three rats per treatment were sacrificed by cervical decapitation and the heart, liver, kidneys and the lungs removed and weighed separately. Haemoglobin (Hb), white blood cells (WBC), eosinophil and Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration (MCHC) were not affected by dietary treatments while the packed cell volume, red blood cells, lymphocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) and Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH) were significantly affected (P<0.05) by dietary treatments. Rats on T4 had the highest PCV (47.00%), a d neutrophil (25.67%) values, while rat on control had the highest value of RBC 5.95 (×106/mm3). Rats on T2 had the highest lymphocyte (80.33%) and monocyte (3.50%) values, while the lowest value was for rats T4 (73.25%) and T3 (2.00%). Rats on T3 had the highest MCV (1.57fl) and MCH (0.40pg) values the total protein and alkaline phosphatise (ALP) were similar (P>0.05) for all group, while the albumin, globulin, cholesterol, Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were influence by dietary treatments (P<0.05). Albumin values ranges from 5.83g/dl to 7.68g/dl with rats on T4 having the highest albumin value (7.68g/dl). Globulin value for rats on T4 is significantly (P<0.05) different from rats on T1, T2, T3, and T5 with rats on T3 having the highest value (3.42). Rats on T1 had the highest Cholesterol (55.37mg/dl) and ALT (17.49IU/L) value, while Rats on T2 had the highest AST (16.13IU/L) value. Kidney weights were similar for all group (P>0.05) while the liver, lungs and heart relative weights were significantly affected (P< 0.05) by dietary treatments. Rats on control diet had the lowest relative weight for liver (3.74), lungs (1.03), kidney (0.92) and heart (0.49). Rats on T3 and T5 had the highest value for heart weight (0.75) and liver weight (5.67)while rats on T4 had the highest value for lungs (1.59).Rats fed dehulled jack bean seed soaked in ogi liquor showed slight improvement on haematological, serum profile and organ weight changes over those fed lye soaked jack bean and boiled for 15minutes. However, all the processing methods were ineffective when compared to the performance of rat fed casein based diets.
Browse legume plants particularly pigeon pea forage generates a lot of underutilized leaves which if properly harnessed can be a cheaper source of nutrients for small ruminant animal production, during dry season feed shortages. In this study, the nutrient digestibility and nitrogen utilization of West African dwarf growing rams fed differently processed Cajanus cajan leaves and Panicum maximum basal diet for 56 days feeding trial. A total of sixteen(16) growing WAD rams between 6 - 9 months with an average body weight of 7.00 - 12.00k were randomly allocated to 4 treatments with 4 rams each and 2 rams per replicate. The experimental diet was fed at 3% body weight of individual ram while fresh, wilted, and dried forms of Cajanus cajan leaves supplemented at varied inclusion levels (0%, 30% fresh, 30% wilted and 30% dried) with Panicum maximum. There were significant (P<0.05) differencesin all parameters determined on nutrient digestibility across the dietary treatments. Animals maintained on T (70% Panicum maximum and 30% dried Cajanus cajan leaves) had the 4 highest dry matter digestibility (60.46%), while the lowest value (48.56%) for DMD was recorded in T diet. Rams fed T diet had the highest mean crude protein digestibility (CPD) 1 2 value of 11.30%, followed by T (10.68%), 10.02% for T , while T diet had the lowest mean 2 1 4CPD of 9.21%. Rams fed T diet had the highest mean crude fibre digestibility (CFD) value of 1 37.65%, while 35.03, 33.18 and 32.71 were recorded for T , T and T diet respectively. T was 4 2 3 4 observed to have the highest mean ash digestibility value of 17.07% with T , T and T having 3 1 2 the value of 16.02, 14.28 and 13.36 respectively. There were significant (P<0.05) differences in all parameters determined on nitrogen utilization across the dietary treatments. Rammaintained on T diet had the highest mean intake of 4.42g/d while T diet had the lowest 2 1 mean value of 2.64g/d. The lowest mean nitrogen balance (NB) of 0.43g/d was observed in rams fed T diet while rams on T diet had the highest NB value of 2.18g/d. Rams fed T diet 1 2 4 had the highest faecal nitrogen value of 2.14g/d. However, rams maintained on T diet had 4 the highest value urinary nitrogen of 1.07g/d. The nitrogen utilization fluctuatedsignificantly (P<0.05) across the dietary treatments. It can be concluded that supplementation of fresh Cajanus cajan forages at 30% inclusion with Panicum maximum at 70% for growing rams can enhance nutrient utilization in terms of crude protein digestibility and nitrogen utilization without any deleterious effects on the animals.
A total of thirty weaner rabbits were randomly allocated to five dietary treatments of six rabbits each in a completely randomized design to investigate the carcass yield and organ weight changes of weaner rabbits fed diets containing alkaline-soaked dehulled African yam bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa) at 0 (control), 5, 10, 15 and 20% levels of inclusion. The rabbits were fed ad libitum for 56 days. The carcass yield showed that live weight, head, fore limbs, hind limbs, breast, back neck, pelt, tail and eviscerated weights were significantly affected (P<0.05) by dietary treatments. Organ weight however showed that hear kidney, whole intestine and caecum were significantly affected by dietary treatments (P<0.05) and there was no significant (P>0.05) difference in weights of liver; gall bladder and spleen across the dietary treatments. Results showed that rabbits on T1 had the highest value of live weight (586.5g), fore limb (13.10%), hind limb (14.50%) and neck (1.02%) while the lowest value of fore limb and hind limb was recorded for rabbits on T5 (6.26). Rabbits on T4 had the highest value of pelt (8.57%), tail (0.50%) and chest (8.82%). The lowest value was recorded for rabbits on T5 (5.36%), T2 (0.38%) and T1 (6.14) respectively. Rabbits on T1 had the lowest value of heart (0.05%), lungs(0.05%) whole intestine (2.50%) and caecum (2.16%) while the highest value of heart (0.46%), whole intestine (18.87%) and caecum (5.46%) was recorded for rabbits on T4 with rabbits on T5 having the highest value of lungs (0.51%). It can be concluded that dehulled AYB soaked in alkaline medium can be fed to weaner rabbits at 5% level of inclusion promoted good carcass yield and without having adverse effects on the internal organs. However, further processing methods needs to be adopted to improve the feeding quality of legume seeds.
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