Haematological Parameters of West African Dwarf Sheep and Goat Fed a Basal Diet of Cassava Peel Supplemented with Fresh Gliricidia Sepium Leaves

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding fresh Gliricidia sepium leaves as supplement to basal diet of dried cassava peel on the haematological parameters of West African Dwarf sheep and goats in a completely randomized design experiment. Twelve each of WAD sheep and goat were randomly divided into three groups of four animals per group for both sheep and goats. The three groups were given different diets of (T1: 100% cassava peel, T2; 70% cassava peel + 30% Gliricidia and T3; 50% cassava peel + 50% Gliricidia) for a period of 7 weeks with an initial 2 weeks of acclimatization. Haematological indices of these animals were investigated; before and after experiment. Parameters monitored included; PCV, WBC, RBC, Hb, Neutrophil and lymphocytes. The results showed that cassava peel was higher in DM than Gliriadia but Gliricidia sepium had higher values of CP, EE and total Ash than cassava peel. Animals fed 100% cassava peel (T1) had better PCV, WBC and Hb values followed by T3 and T2 in goat. Similarly, PCV and Hb values in sheep were higher under T1while WBC, RBC and lymphocytes had better values in T3. Both species of animals (sheep and goat) can be fed dried cassava peel supplemented with fresh leaves of Gliricidia sepium at 50% inclusion level and perform well during the dry season. Supplementation with Gliricidia sepium will cause no harm on the performance of sheep and goat in term of haematological parameters, most especially those investigated in this study.