ABSTRACT

 A feeding trial of 90 day duration was conducted to determine the performance, blood profile, apparent nutrient digestibility coefficients and economics of production oftwelve West African Dwarf (WAD) does fed diets containing different inclusion levels oiMoringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM). The does, averaging 12.4kg in weight and aged between 10 - 12 months were randomly divided into 4 treatment groups of 3 animals each and housed individually in cement formulated to contain 0, 5, 10 and 15% MOLM in addition to other constituents (cassava peel, brewers dried grain (BDG), palm kernel meal (PKM), maize offal, bone meal and salt). The diets were allotted to the 4 animal groups in a Completely Randomized Design. Each animal received the designated diet on 3% body weight basis in addition to a forage sward made of mostly average daily feed intake, average daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio and cost benefit ratio. Blood and faecal samples collected from the animals in each treatment group were used to determine haematological (packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cell (RBC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), white blood cell (WBC) etc.), biochemical (glucose, urea, creatinine, Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) etc.) and apparent nutrient digestibility coefficient. Results showed that average daily feed intake differed significantly (P<0.05) with does fed 15% MOLM diets having the highest intake (495.19 g/d). Similarly average daily weight gain was highest (46.00 g/d) for animals fed T4 diet (15% MOLM). FCR creatinine, total bilirubin and AST. The PCV, RBC and WBC values obtained in this present study ranged between 29.50 - 32.75%, 10.93 - 11.45 (x 106/pl), and 10.38 - 14.70 (x 103 /pl) for xi ' Li Jfloored pens provided with a feeder and drinker. Four treatments diets (Tl, T2, T3 and T4) were was however best for does fed T4 diet (10.77). PCV, RBC, MCV and WBC differed (P<0.05) significantly among treatment groups and also were ‘3 Panicum maximum, Aspilia africana and Alchornea cordifolia. Parameters evaluated were T1 and T4 respectively, while the values for MCV ranged between 27.02 and 30.03 (fl) for T1 and T3 respectively. Whereas the creatinine, total bilirubin and AST values obtained ranged between 0.88 - 0.48 (mg/dl), 0.45 - 0.80 (mg/dl) and 28.50 - 25.00 respectively. Digestibility (apparent) coefficient; dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), crude fibre (CF), ether extract (EE) and ASH differed significantly (P<0.05) for treatment groups with diet T4 having relatively better value. Cost-benefit ratio was however best in T4 (1:2.05). Incorporation ofMOLM in diets of WAD does generally enhanced performance, blood profile, apparent nutrient digestibility coefficient and reduction in feed cost. Diet T4 promoted the best relative performance among the treatment diets and is therefore recommended for production of WAD does in South East Nigeria.