PHYSIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF THE HEAMATOLOGICAL STATUS OF PIGS IN A GOVERNMENT OWNED FARM IN KOGI STATE NIGERIA

Abstract

Nutrition is a very important aspect of pig production and affects the blood values of pigs, but most farmers are ignorant about the nutrient requirements of pigs. On this note, a study was carried out to evaluate the changes in blood parameters of swine that was mostly fed crop residue and periodically with little concentrate as supplement. A total of 30 pigs comprising 10 piglet, 10 growers and 10 adult were used for this study. The pigs were adequately housed, while feed and potable water were supplied ad libitum. The crop residues fed were cassava peals, yam peals and amaranths vegetable supplemented with little concentrate for a period of 9 weeks. Ten (10) pigs were randomly sampled from each treatment and blood collected into an EDTA bottle. The samples were analyzed for full and differentia blood count. The finding of the study revealed that growing pigs fed the diets were significantly (P<0.05) nutritionally stressed as their haematological and differential counts were outside the normal range recommended for pigs. It thus becomes imperative to pay attention to the quality of feed fed to livestock and considerations also should be given on the influence of feed on blood parameters of farm animals