EVALUATION OF BODY MORPHOMETRIC AND RECTAL TEMPERATURE OF UDA RAMS SUPPLEMENTED WITH GRADED LEVELS OF TWO FORMS OF KANWA (MAIFATSI AND YAR ZANKOWA)

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of natron (kanwa) on hematological and morphometric responses of Uda rams. Twenty Eight (28) Uda rams were allotted to seven Treatments; with Yar Zankowa and Mai Fatsi at 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% of the dites as Treatments 1, 2, 3 and 5, 6, 7 respectively while Treatment 4 with 0.0% as control in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The experiment lasted for 84 days (12 weeks), twenty eight (28) rams were used in this experiment, four rams were allotted to each treatment and each ram serve as replicate. Data were collected weekly to assess morphometric indices and rectal temperature. The results revealed no differences (p>0.05) in the linear body measurements between all the Treatments. Treatment 2 (1.0% Yar Zankowa) had higher final weight gain compared to other Treatments. The rectal temperature showed no significant (P>0.05) difference across the Treatments. It was recommended that farmers are encouraged to use Yar Zankowa form of kanwa at 1.0% for better performance. It was concluded that the two forms of kanwa had no deleterious effect on the health of the animals as also indicated by rectal temperatures of the animals.