Growth Performance, Blood Profile and Economics of Production of West African Dwarf (WAD) Goats Fed Fermented Baobab (Adansonia Digitata) Seed Meal

Wild plants and cultivated native species in Africa have great potential to reduce high cost of feeding livestock. One of these plants grown in the Africa are Baobab. Twelve (12) West African Dwarf (WAD) goats with mean average body weight 7.639±0.249 kg were used in 56 days feeding trial after 14 days of adaptation to examine the effect of fermented baobab seed meal addition in diet on performance, blood characteristics and economic analysis. Three experimental diets (control, WBb-15 and PBb-15) were formulated with palm kernel cake (PKC) replaced with water-fermented and palm wine-fermented baobab seed.
Results indicated no significant (p>0.05) difference in daily body weight change, forage intake, total feed intake, Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR), red blood cell (RBC) and white blood cell (WBC), however concentrate intake, packed cell volume (PCV), total protein, cost/kg weight gain were significantly (p<0.05) affected by fermented baobab seed inclusion. While all diets used in the study were satisfactory, inclusion of 15 % water fermented baobab seed meal gave optimum cost/kg weight gain when fed WAD goats.

Keywords: Baobab seed, fermentation, economic analysis, haematological parameters, serum indices, performance, WAD goats.