Abstract

Objectives: The objective of the study was to investigate the haematological and serum biochemical indices of Red Sokoto goats fed diets containing graded levels of cooked Baobad (Adansonia digitata) seed meal. Methods: Sixteen growing Red Sokoto goats aged between 7 to 9 months, with a weight range of 6.8 - 7.5Kg were randomly allotted into four (4) treatments of 4 goats each. Four concentrate diets were formulated containing 0, 5, 10, and 15 % baobad seed meal.The goats were fed 500g Digitaria horizontalis (Crab grass) at 8 AM , followed 1 hour later with the concentrate at 200g/goat/day. On the last day of the experiment blood samples were taken from the jugular vein of the goats for haematological and serum biochemical analysis Samples of the concentrate diets and crab grass were analysed for their proximate composition using the methods outlined by AOAC, (2000), Data were analysed using, SPSS, version 23, (2015), treatment means that were significant were separated using least significant difference (LSD) contained in the same statistical package. The experiment was conducted at the Small Ruminants Unit of the Livestock Teaching and Research farm, Federal College of Horticulture, Dadin Kowa, Gombe state, Nigeria for a period of 63 days after an adjustment period of 7 days. Results: Heamatological and serum biochemical values fell within recommended values for growing goats. The haemoglobin concentration (Hb) values fell between 3.50 - 6.43g/dl and showed significant (p<0.05) difference. The PCV values ranged between 9.10 - 17.23% and there were significanct (p<0.05) differences across the treatments. The haematological values were generally better than that of the control. The total protein value in this study ranged from 38.33 - 40.57g/dl and were significantly (p<0.05) different, the urea levels of the experimental animals were significant (p<0.05), the values ranged from 3.50 - 4.17 mmol/dl. Conclusions: It was concluded that inclusion of baobad seed meal in supplement diets for Red Sokoto goats up to 15% level of inclusion had no adverse effects on the haematological and serum biochemical profiles of the goats and infact improved some haematological values of the experimental goats, Further research using other breeds of goats as well as other species of ruminants such as sheep and cattle is recommended .Further research should also explore other processing methods for Baobad seeds.