Haematology and serum biochemistry of West African Dwarf goats fed Pleurotus tuber-regium–treated cassava root sievate–based diets

The study aimed at determining the effect of Pleurotus tuber-regium–treated cassava root sievate–based diets on haematology and serum biochemistry of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats. Thirty-two WAD goats between 6 and 8 months old were randomly divided into four groups of eight goats each. The four experimental diets were formulated to contain 0, 20, 40 and 60% dietary levels of inclusion of Pleurotus tuber-regium–treated cassava root sievate, respectively. The groups were randomly assigned to the four experiment diets (T₁, T₂, T₃ and T₄) for 90 days in a completely randomized design. At the start of the experiment, packed cell volume (PCV) ranged from 24.90 to 29.49% and red blood cell (RBC) 9.42–10.44 × 10 12/L while mean cell haemoglobin significantly (p < 0.05) ranged from 5.44 to 6.41 pg. At the end of the experiment, PCV and RBC showed significant differences (p < 0.05) and were better in T₂. At the start of the experiment, cholesterol ranged from 2.15 to 2.29 mmol/l, creatinine from 75.72 to 80.32 μmol/l, urea from 16.39 to 16.72 mg/dl, total bilirubin from 0.25 to 0.28 μmol/l, total protein from 61.73 to 63.16 g/I, globulin from 29.08 to 29.59 g/I and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) from 68.62 to 71.06 U/L. At the end of the trial, cholesterol values were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in T₁. Urea was significantly reduced (p < 0.05) with T₁ showing significantly higher values than T₃ and T₄. Total protein, globulin and total bilirubin increased (p < 0.05) linearly from T₁ to T₄. AST was improved (p < 0.05) at the end of the study. The study revealed that the inclusion of Pleurotus tuber-regium-degraded cassava root sievate in the diets of West African Dwarf goats had no deleterious effects on the haematological and serum biochemical parameters of goats and could be included in goat diets up to 60%.