The relationships between live weight and eight body measurements of West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep were studied using 210 animals under on farm condition. Data obtained on height at withers (HW), heart girth (HG), body length (BL), head length (HL), head width (HDW), loin girth (LG), length of hindquarter (LHQ) and width of hindquarter (WHQ) were fitted into linear, allometric and multiple regression models to predict live weight from the body measurements. Results revealed that body measurements of WAD sheep were generally higher in the rams than in the ewes. Coefficient of determination (R(2)) values computed for the body measurements were generally higher (0.87-0.99) using allometric regression model than linear regression model (0.44-0.94). Heart girth (HG) and WHQ depicted the highest relationship to live weight in linear and allometric models compared to other body measurements. Based on stepwise elimination procedure, HG, HL and WHQ were better in predicting live weight in multiple linear regression models. The magnitude of correlation coefficient (r) indicate that WHQ shows the highest correlation with live weight (r = 0.96) compared to HG (r = 0.94).

The study was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding different levels of dried cassava leaves at 0%, 20%, 40% and 60%, respectively, using guinea grass as basal feed, on the haematological and serum biochemical parameters of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats. The study lasted for 116 days during which haematological and serum biochemical parameters were monitored in 40 male goats before and after, using a completely randomized design. At the start of the experiment, packed cell volume (PCV) ranged from 21.5% to 25.5% while haemoglobin concentration (Hb) and RBC significantly (P < 0.01) ranged from 7.3 to 8.6 g/dl and 10.4 to 13.2 × 10(12)/l, respectively. White blood cells reduced significantly (P < 0.05)) from 16.4 to 11.7 × 10(9)/l) as dried cassava leaves increased in the diets. At the end of the trial, there was a slight increase in the values of PCV and Hb in the diets (P > 0.05). Lymphocyte reduced significantly (P < 0.05) from 50.0% to 63.5% in the diets. Neutrophils, however, increased (P > 0.05) at the 0% to 40% levels and reduced at the 60% level of dried cassava leaves inclusion. At the start of the experiment, values for glucose significantly (P < 0.05) ranged from 40.1 to 56.0 mg/dl. Total protein and albumin values ranged significantly (P < 0.05) from 56.0 to 68.5 g/dl and 30.6 to 38.4 g/dl, respectively. At the end of the experiment, serum creatinine increased significantly (P < 0.05) as the level of dried cassava leaves increased from 0% to 60% in the diets. The study revealed that inclusion of dried cassava leaves in the diets of West African Dwarf goats had no deleterious effects on the haematological and serum biochemical parameters of WAD goats and could therefore be included in ruminant diets up to 60%.

The relationships between live weight and eight body measurements of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats were studied using 211 animals under farm condition. The animals were categorized based on age and sex. Data obtained on height at withers (HW), heart girth (HG), body length (BL), head length (HL), and length of hindquarter (LHQ) were fitted into simple linear, allometric, and multiple-regression models to predict live weight from the body measurements according to age group and sex. Results showed that live weight, HG, BL, LHQ, HL, and HW increased with the age of the animals. In multiple-regression model, HG and HL best fit the model for goat kids; HG, HW, and HL for goat aged 13-24 months; while HG, LHQ, HW, and HL best fit the model for goats aged 25-36 months. Coefficients of determination (R(2)) values for linear and allometric models for predicting the live weight of WAD goat increased with age in all the body measurements, with HG being the most satisfactory single measurement in predicting the live weight of WAD goat. Sex had significant influence on the model with R(2) values consistently higher in females except the models for LHQ and HW.

Background: Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are molecular chaperones known to bind and sequester client proteins under stress. Methods: To identify and better understand some of these proteins, we carried out a computational genome-wide survey of the bovine genome. For this, HSP sequences from each subfamily (sHSP, HSP40, HSP70 and HSP90) were used to search the Pfam (Protein family) database, for identifying exact HSP domain sequences based on the hidden Markov model. ProtParam tool was used to compute potential physico-chemical parameters detectable from a protein sequence. Evolutionary trace (ET) method was used to extract evolutionarily functional residues of a homologous protein family. Results: We computationally identified 67 genes made up of 10, 43, 10 and 4 genes belonging to small HSP, HSP40, HSP70 and HSP90 families respectively. These genes were widely dispersed across the bovine genome, except in chromosomes 24, 26 and 27, which lack bovine HSP genes. We found an uncharacterized outer dense fiber ( ODF1) gene in cattle with an intact alpha crystallin domain, like other small HSPs. Physico-chemical characteristic of aliphatic index was higher in HSP70 and HSP90 gene families, compared to small HSP and HSP40. Grand average hydropathy showed that small HSP (sHSP), HSP40, HSP70 and HSP90 genes had negative values except for DNAJC22, a member of HSP40 gene family. The uniqueness of DNAJA3 and DNAJB13 among HSP40 members, based on multiple sequence alignment, evolutionary trace analysis and sequence identity dendrograms, suggests evolutionary distinct structural and functional features, with unique roles in substrate recognition and chaperone functions. The monophyletic pattern of the sequence identity dendrograms of cattle, human and mouse HSP sequences suggests functional similarities. Conclusions: Our computational results demonstrate the first-pass in-silico identification of heat shock proteins and calls for further investigation to better understand their functional roles and mechanisms in Bovidae.

SUMMARYA study was conducted to investigate the effects of different additives on the fermentation quality of ensiled cassava leaves and its effects on the ruminal fluid parameters using eighteen West African dwarf goats. Cassava leaves were ensiled alone (ECF), with 5 % (w/w) molasses (ECFM) and caged layer waste (ECFP) respectively as additives for 30 days. Results of chemical composition of the additive and non-additive silages indicated that ensiling with 5 % molasses reduced the DM content from 252.4 g/kg in ECF to 238.9 g/ kg in ECFM and increased with 5 % caged layer waste (ECFP) to 267.6 g/kg. The CP content of ECF was 207.6 g/kg and this decreased to 198.5 g/kg DM in ECFM. Addition of molasses and caged layer waste caused a reduction in the HCN contents from 95.8 mg/kg in non-additive silage (ECF) to 89.3 mg/kg in ECFP and 84.7 mg/kg in ECFM. The mean pH of non-additive silage of 3.66 was significantly (p<0.05) different from the value of 4.29 in ECFP. Animals fed silage ensiled with molasses (ECFM) had a DM intake of 503.42 g/d, followed by values of 485.17 g/d and 458.43 g/d for animals fed ECF and ECFP respectively. Crude protein intake was similar in ECF and ECFM but higher (p<0.05) than ECFP and ranged from 161.28-172.71 g/d. The ruminal fluid parameters indicated no significant differences (p>0.05) in the pH, BC and lactic acid concentration in both the nonadditive and additive silages. Ammonia-nitrogen concentration (NH 3 -N) however, ranged significantly (p<0.05) from 15.93 ± 0.20 (mg/dL) in ECF to 22.43 ± 0.61 (mg/dL) in ECFP. The study showed that ensiling cassava leaves with 5 % molasses and caged layer waste improved the silage conditions and the ruminal fluid parameters of West African Dwarf goats. RESUMENSe realizó un estudio para investigar los efectos de diferentes aditivos sobre la calidad de la fermentación de ensilaje de hojas de yuca y sus efectos sobre los parámetros del fluido ruminal en dieciocho cabras Enanas de África Occidental. Las hojas de yuca fueron ensiladas, durante 30 días, solas (ECF) y con adición de 5 % de melaza (ECFM) o excretas de ponedoras en batería (ECFP) como aditivos. La adición de 5 % de melaza redujo el contenido de materia seca, 252,4 g/kg en ECF, a 238,9 g/kg en ECFM; con adición de 5 % de excretas (ECFP) la MS aumentó hasta 267,6 g/kg. El nivel de PB (207,6 g/kg en ECF) disminuyó a 198,5 g/kg en ECFM. Tanto la adición de melazas Archivos de zootecnia vol. 63, núm. 243, p. 450