HEALTH STATUS OF WEST AFRICAN DWARF GOATS FED DIETS CONTAINING COMPOSITE RAW CASHEW NUTSHELL TO REPLACE CASSAVA PEELS

Abstract

Raw Cashew Nut Shell (RCNS) is one of the agro-industrial waste products that could be used as ruminants’ feed. Therefore this study was carried out to investigate the effects of raw cashew nut shell meal on health status of West African Dwarf goats. Twenty (20) West African dwarf goats were used and randomly allotted to four (4) Dietary treatments of five (5) goats each in a completely randomized design. Four diets were formulated and replaced with varying inclusion levels of RCSN meal: Diet 1 the control diet had -0%; Diet 2- 10%; Diet 3- 20% and Diet 4- 30% of raw cashew nut shell meal (RCNSM). The feeding trial commenced and lasted for sixty three days (63) with the experimental goats fed ad libitum. In the last week of the experiment, blood samples were collected from the jugular veins of all the experimental goats for analysis of haematological and serum biochemical indices. Rumen liquor samples were collected from the goats for microbiological analysis to determine Total bacterial counts, identification and characterization of the bacteria organisms present in the stomach. The data collected were subjected to one way analysis of variance, treatment means were compared using Duncan Multiple Range test. The chemical composition of the experimental diets revealed that all the parameters measured were significantly (P<0.05) influenced by the inclusion of RCNSM except for the ash content. Diet 4 (30% RCNSM) had significantly (P<0.05) higher dry matter content of (82.87%) and crude protein (9.89%) compared to other test diets. Diet 1 (0% RCNSM) had the highest EE value of 3.94%. The NFE content decreased steadily from Diet 1 to Diet 4 with the values ranging between 55.19-57.32%. The values of ADF (34.81%) and cellulose (28.98%) of control diet (Diet 1) were highest compared to other test diets. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference in the haematological parameters except lymphocytes and neutrophils, with lymphocytes and neutrophils values highest in goats fed Diet 1(73.67%; 33.00%) respectively while goats fed Diet 4 recorded the lowest values (63.67%; 24.33%). None of the serum biochemical indices showed significant (p>0.05) difference among the dietary treatment groups. The varying inclusion levels of RCNSM had significant (P<0.05) influence on the rumen bacterial and coliform counts. The average rumen bacterial and coliform population increased as the inclusion levels of RCNSM increased with goats fed control diet had the least value 31.00 × 102cfu/ml; 11.00 × 102 cfu/ml; those fed Diet 4 which contained 30% of RCNSM had the highest values 58.67×102 cfu/ml ; 29.67× 102cfu/ml of bacteria and coliform counts respectively. Only Salmonella. Clostridium, Proteus and Bacillus species of bacteria were commonly isolated from the goats fed the four different diets. Results showed significant differences (P<0.05) among the various dietary treatments for performance characteristics. Goats fed 10% raw cashew nut shell meal had the highest weight gain (3.11kg), final weight gain (9.77kg) and feed intake (250.09g/day) compared to the other animals given RCNS meal while goats fed 30% had the highest feed gain ratio (11.38). It was therefore concluded that addition of the raw cashew nutshell meal in this study up to 10% inclusion level did not pose any health problems to the animals.