Blood Count and Serum Biochemistry Prole in West African Dwarf Goats Fed Ensiled Mixtures of Cocoa Pod, Cassava Pulp and Acacia Leaf

This study investigated the effects of feeding ensiled graded combinations of cocoa pod, cassava pulp and Acacia leaf on haematological and serum biochemical of West African Dwarf goats. In the bid to control environmental pollution, the wastes of cocoa and cassava were applied as alternative feed ingredients for the goat in spite of its low nutrients’ quality and digestibility. A total of Twenty-eight (28) WAD goats (bucks), aged 4 to 5 months with average body weight of 7.00±0.2kg was used in a completely randomized design for a 45 days study to evaluate the blood proles of goats fed diet combinations (0:60:40) to (60:0:40). The results revealed signicant differences in some of the blood parameters measured among the treatments. The red blood cell, packed cell volume and haemoglobin ranged from 4.90-7.87x10 6 /ul, 19.25-26.83% and 7.33-11.15g/L respectively. The concentrations of mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration varied signicantly (p < 0.05), white blood cell (5.57-9.75x10 9 L) were comparable and lymphocytes (%) ranged from 43.85-55.67. For serum biochemistry, values obtained for total protein and albumin with sodium followed the same trend while cholesterol, urea, creatinine and glucose followed the same trend. Alanine amino transferase, Aspartate aminotransferase and Alkaline phosphatase varied signicantly (p<0.05) among the treatment groups. Since the parameters measured were within the normal range for goats’ blood prole, combinations of cocoa pod, cassava pulp with acacia leaves in the ratio of 0:60:40 to 20:40:40 as browse plants do not have any deleterious effect on the health of the animals.


Introduction
Presently, agricultural practices globally involved mixed farming which comprised of animal and crop production for proper utilization of resources and upgrade pro tability (Yousuf et al., 2013). One major factor which in uenced livestock production system pro tability is adequate feed utilization for productive and reproductive performance. Researchers has embarked on utilization of agro industrial by products and non-costly feeds with adequate nutritional composition due to high costs of concentrate diets. So, ruminants production survival especially in the tropics, diseases tolerant and feed conversion e ciency must be put into consideration (Oni et al., 2010). Gebregiorgis et al. (2012) indicated that most farmers feed their animals with unbalanced nutrients intake which led to decrease feed intake, poor growth, reduced reproductive performance and milk production. Kim et al. (2012) reported that many of the agro industrial by products must be treated chemically, biologically and physically before using them as feeds. For example, cocoa pod was reported to contain 0.40% theobromine which can be eliminated or reduced during fermentation (Munier and Hartadi, 2012). Kenneth (2011) also reported that cassava products has helped in solving food challenges because it still gave high yield production where others food crops had failed. Samuel (2018) indicated that browse plants had been used as ruminants for many years especially during the dry seasons which means they are not affected by climatic changes. So, utilization of cassava pulp, cocoa pod and Acacia leaf could be good feed source for livestock in adverse environmental condition.
The effects of feed on blood pro le of animals are very essential in determining the performance of such livestock not just on nutritional studies. It was reported that clinical examination is mandatory to diagnose any disease or infections and causal organisms so as to know the treatment applicable. So, blood pro le veri cation is a mean of assessing the health status of the animals (Aderinboye et al., 2009;Ojebiyi et al., 2007). So, the means of getting safe and locally available feed ingredients to improve livestock reproduction especially goat production, prompted this study which aimed at determining the in uence of cocoa pod based diets on the blood pro le of West African Dwarf goats.

Experimental Site
The study was carried out at the Teaching and Research farm of the Department of Animal Science, Landmark University, Omu Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria. (Landmark university, 2011).

Experimental Animals and Design
Twenty-eight (28) West African dwarf goats (bucks), aged between 4 to 5 months with average body weight of 7.00±0.2 kg was sourced from livestock market at Otun Ekiti. The animals were allotted to seven dietary treatments after 14 days of acclimatization in a completely randomized design with 4 animals per treatment under intensive system of management. They were kept in well ventilated pens (3m x 1.5m) as described by Olawoye (2017). All the goats were weighed and randomly allotted to different dietary groups (Table 1). They were dewormed by using anthelmintic (Super Ivermectin), according to the body weight and sprayed with acaricide (Parannex) against external parasites. The goats were fed with experimental diets, early in the morning (8:00am) and fresh drinkable water were supplied (ad libitum) during the experimental period. The feeding trial was carried out for 45 days in a complete randomized design (CRD) experiment.

HAEMATOLOGICAL DETERMINATION
Blood samples (10ml) were collected from jugular vein of each of the 28 WAD goats into sampling bottles using disposable syringes and sterile needles (18-gauge inches) for haematology and serum biochemistry analysis. Prior to feeding in the morning, bleeding was done and the blood samples were placed in three vacutainers. One set of the blood samples (3ml) was collected into plastic tubes containing the anti-coagulant ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) for the determination of haematological parameters as described by Al-Eissa and Alkahtani (2011). All samples were analysed for the haematology by the Mindray BC 3200 automated analyser. Parameters determined were red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, eosinophil, haemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean cell haemoglobin (MCH) and mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC).

SERUM BIOCHEMISTRY DETERMINATIONS
The remaining blood samples (7ml) was drawn into anti-coagulant free plastic tubes (universal bottle) with lithium heparin allowed to coagulate at room temperature for biochemical analysis. The serum biochemistry determinations were done using commercial test kits, Quimica Clinica Aplicada (QCA) test kits, Randox test kits and UV spectrophotometer (Jenway Spectrophotometer 6305). The serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity was determined by the Reitman-Frankel method (Reitman, 1954). The serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was determined by the phenolphthalein monophosphate method (Babson, 1966) while the serum total proteins was determined by the direct Biuret method (Tietz, 1995).

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
The data obtained from the growth performance and analyses of the blood samples were subjected to standard methods of statistical analysis using windows-based SPSS (Version 20.0, 2014). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used and Level of signi cance was set at p<0.05.

Results
Erythrocyte's indices: The parameters studied were signi cantly different (p<0.05) along the rows except MCV and MCH. White blood cell differential, lymphocytes, neutrophils, monocyte and eosinophils signi cantly fell within the normal range among all the groups. White blood cell differential count, lymphocyte, neutrophils, monocyte and eosinophils were not signi cantly (p<0.05) different among the groups. Along the row, the concentrations of lymphocytes were signi cantly different but the concentration in the group of animals fed T1 (0% cocoa pod) was the highest, followed by T2 (10% cocoa pod) and T3 (20% cocoa pod).
Leukocyte's indices: The parameters studied were signi cantly different (p<0.05) along the rows except total white blood cell count (WBCs) which increased signi cantly (p<0.05) in group T7 (9.750.64x10 9 /L) than other groups. Packed Cell Volume concentrations were signi cantly different (p< 0.05) among the treatment groups. The PCV is the measure of the ratio of the volume occupied by the Red Blood Cells to the volume of the whole body. It should be noted that those on combinations of 0% cocoa pod, 60% cassava pulp and 40% acacia leaf (T1) to combinations of 20% cocoa pod, 40% cassava pulp and 40% acacia leaf (T3) resulted in a signi cant (p<0.05) increased in PCV at the end of the study; suggesting that the combinations offered the animals a better plane of nutrition.   . It was observed that feeding West African Dwarf goats with 0-20% cocoa pod supplementation could probably have a high tendency for a return of PCV to normal level as the goat is the only animal with PCV value higher than 22% documented by Veterinary manual for goats to be normal for circulatory system in goats (Susan, 2015). Ikhimioya and Imasuen (2007) also indicated that only goats on those combinations could probably have a high tendency for a return of PCV to normal level following an infection through compensatory accelerated production; as they were the only animals with PCV value above minimum levels 22% documented by Daramola and Adeloye (2005) to be adequate for circulatory system in goats. The low PCV values which were reported in the combinations of (30:30:40) to combinations of (60:0:40) in the study could be a result of hepatic toxicity consequent on high intake of cocoa pod according to Adeyina (2008). The increase in nal PCV values (26.83%) for the goats on combinations of (0:60:40); combinations of (10:50:40) (23.40%) and combinations of (20:40:40) (22.27%) might be due to increased dietary nutrients indicative of compensatory accelerated production of PCV. The PCV values observed in this study were comparable with the range of values (22-30%) earlier reported for WAD goats by Daramola and Adeloye (2005).
Recently, the researches indicated that cocoa pod that can be developed and processed into high valuable feedstuffs (Wulandari et al., 2014). The major limitation of cocoa pod in this respect is the alkaloid and theobromine that may have cumulative effect in livestock production system. Red Blood Cells (RBCs) counts (4.90-7.87 × 10 6 /μl) was within the normal range of 7-18 × 10 6 /μl (Blood et al., 2007;Daramola et al., 2005). Since it is the red blood cells (RBCs) that carried the respiratory pigments (Hb), reduction in the amount of red blood cell means reduction in the amount of haemoglobin which resulted in oxygen accessed by the animals. The Hb values (7.33-11.15g/dl) among the treatment groups fell within the normal range (7.00 to 15.00g dL-1) as reported by Tambuwal (Daramola et al.,2005). This implied that goats on diets of (0:60:40) to (20:40:40) remained clinically healthy as indicated by researchers (Konlan et al., 2012). and that the animals had good immune defence system against any foreign body in the circulatory system. The white blood cell (WBC) played a prominent role in disease resistance especially with respect to the generation of antibodies.
The WBC counts in this study (8.46-12.75 x 10 9 /L) was lower than the (23.40 x 10 9 /L) value obtained by Anya (2018) but fell within the level (4 -13x 10 3 /UL) reported for WAD goats (Daramola et al., 2005). This con rmed that goats on the diets on combinations of (0  Albumin obtained for the diet on combinations of (0:60:40) (7.23g/dl and 3.70g/dl) respectively to (20:40:40) (6.50g/dl and 2.77g/dl) showed that the high levels of total protein and albumin were safe and bene cial, and according to Soliva et al. (2005) impact some qualities of rumen undegradable protein, to improve the protein availability and utilization. Albumin which is also very good indicator of health was observed to be normal in this present study.
There comparable values of the cholesterol suggested that the meat from the experimental animals was safe for consumption according to Igwebuike et al. (2008) who reported that cholesterol in the serum is associated with the quantity and quality of protein supplied in the diet. It can therefore be concluded that the protein in the combinations of (0:60:40) to (20:40:40) are of good quality to meet the nutritional needs of the animals. The results on glucose agreed with the normal 50-75mg/dl for goats reported by Dhanotiya (2004), it thus appears plausible to infer that the observed depressed serum glucose in diet combinations of (30:30:40) (50.77 mg/dl) to (60:0:40) were due to cocoa pod intoxication according to Anya (2018). The measurement of the AST (Aspartate aminotransferase) and ALP (alkaline phosphatase) level ALP also assessed cardiac, hepatic and muscle function (Susan, 2015). Perhaps, this implied that goats fed diets on combinations of (40:20:40); (50:10:40) and (60:0:40) had severe liver injury and this could be responsible for the nervous disorder and infections. The response in terms of haematological indices and serum biochemistry pro les by dwarf goats indicated that cocoa pod and cassava pulp with acacia leaves up to a ratio of 20:40:40 can serve as a sustainable feedstuff for dwarf goats most especially during the dry-season without adverse effects. Thus, the formulated diets were rich in nutrients, highly digestible, and could meet the nutrient requirements for growth and maintenance by ruminant animals