Performance and blood indices of West African dwarf goats fed graded levels of malted sorghum sprout with enzyme supplementation

Abstract

Malted sorghum sprout (MSP) is an agro-industrial by-products rich in organic nitrogen and amino acids which can be used to enhance ruminant nutrition. A study was conducted to assess the nutritive value of MSP as supplementary on the performance characteristics and blood profile of West African dwarf (WAD) goats. MSP was collected, air-dried and then incorporated at different inclusion levels of 0, 10, 20 and 30% to formulate four dietary treatments T , T , T and T , respectively, with T - T being supplemented with Roxazyme G2 1 2 3 4 2 4 enzyme at 0.5g/kg. Twelve WAD bucks with an average weight of 7±0.5kg were assigned into four dietary treatments with three bucks per treatment in a completely randomized design over a period of 84 days. Data were obtained on performance characteristics, haematological and serum biochemical indices. Performance characteristics showed that average concentrate consumed (229.04g/day) and average daily weight gain (44.44 g/day) of WAD goats were significantly (P?0.05) higher in goats fed 20% MSP with enzyme supplementation. Dietary MSP with enzyme supplementation significantly (P?0.05) influenced the total protein (TP), aspartate amino transferase (AST), alanine amino transferase (ALT), white blood cells (WBC) and red blood cells (RBC) across the treatments. 3 3 TP (7.05g/dL) and WBC (7.88 x 10 /mm ) were significantly (P?0.05) higher in goats fed 20% MSP while globulin values increased significantly (P?0.05) across the dietary treatments (3.94 – 5.05g/dL) and is within the normal levels expected of healthy goats. It is concluded that dietary MSP with enzyme supplementation at 20% improved the performance, hematological and serum biochemical indicess of WAD goats without any adverse effects.