Biochemical Evaluation of Replacement of Ensiled Cassava Pulp With Cocoa Pod in the Diet of West African Dwarf Goats

Abstract This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of supplementing cassava pulp with cocoa pod and acacia leaf on blood metabolites of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats. Twenty-eight WAD bucks aged 5 months with an average body weight of 7.00 ±0.2kg were used in a completely randomized experiment. The goats were randomly assigned to seven dietary treatments in different ratios of 0:60:40 (T1); 10:50:40 (T2); 20:40:40 (T3); 30:30:40 (T4); 40:20:40 (T5); 50:10:40 (T6) and 60:0:40 (T7) g/kg DM respectively. Data collected was subjected to analysis of variance using SPSS. The results obtained shown that the highest packed cell volume (PCV) was obtained from treatment 1(26.83%) followed by treatment 2 (23.40%) and treatment 3 (22.27%). Haemoglobin concentration was highest in treatment 1 (11.40g/dl), followed by treatment 2 (11.15g/dl) and treatment 3 (10.37g/dl). At the end of the experiment, there was a sharp decline in the PCV values of the goats in treatments 5, 6 and 7. Haemoglobin concentration values followed a similar trend. Red blood cell (RBC) values significantly (p<0.05) decreased as the levels of inclusion of cocoa pod increased. Total protein and albumin ranged from 7.23 to 5.00 (g/dl) and 3.70 to 2.10 (g/dl) respectively and were significantly different. The study revealed that supplementing cassava pulp with cocoa pod and acacia leaf at combinations of 0% cocoa pod, 60% cassava pulp and 40% acacia leaf to 20% cocoa pod, 40% cassava pulp and 40% acacia leaf had no negative effects on blood profile of West African dwarf goats.