ABSTRACT Acaricides in tick control, had been thought to be in Africa the panacea for over a century. Environmental and economic constraints, development of acaricide-resistant strains due to acaricide misuse, have brought about the need for an alternative tick control strategy. The use of tick resistant cattle has then been advocated and echoed in the USA and Australia where it got its full expansion. In Africa, few works have been undertaken on tick resistance despite the fact that many tic...
ABSTRACT OF THE STUDY Dairying is a young and developing industry in G hana, and one o f the m ajor problem s it faces is the low dem and o f the m ilk produced. This is partly due to public concerns over the safety and quality o f the m ilk produced, and also the hygienic practices o f informal agents. However, the extent o f risks posed to hum an health by consum ption o f m ilk and dairy products in the country is not well docum ented. This project w as therefore carried out to study the ...
ABSTRACT This research was carried out to determine the growth performance, carcass characteristics and selected blood parameters of broilers fed increasing levels of corn cobs (CC) as a replacement (50% or 100%) for wheat bran (WB), with or without fibre degrading enzymes (E). A total of 175 day-old chicks were used in this trial which lasted 42 days. Birds were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments in a completely randomised design. Treatments were labelled as T1 (0% CC), T2 (3% CC),...
ABSTRACT Reproductive inefficiency is a major challenge in rabbit production. Leaf meals such as Moringa oleifera rich in phytochemicals have been used to enhance reproductive performance in cattle and catfish. Information on the use of Moringa oleifera Leaf Meal (MoLM) to enhance reproductive efficiency in rabbits and its effect on organs has not been adequately documented. Therefore, the reproductive response of rabbits to supplemental MoLM was assessed. In a 24-week trial, sixty rabbits we...
ABSTRACT Conventional feedstuffs have not met the increasing demand of livestock industry. Rice plant, a food-feed cereal, can provide grains for humans and fodder for livestock. The potential of Rice Straw (RS) as fodder for sheep in Nigeria has not been adequately documented. Therefore, the potential of RS as fodder for West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep was investigated in this study. Using Lattice design, 49 rice varieties of five cultivars: Interspecific Upland (IU), Interspecific Lowland (I...
ABSTRACT Inorganic feed additives are commonly used in small ruminant production to promote growth. However, the problem of bioaccumulation of chemical residues in animals fed inorganic feed additives has necessitated the search for organic alternatives such as Fossil Shell Flour (FSF). There is dearth of information on the use of fossil shell flour as a feed additive in the diet of small ruminants. Hence, growth performance of West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep fed diets supplemented with FSF we...
ABSTRACT Spermatozoon apoptosis in extended semen is a challenge to artificial insemination in poultry production. Chicken spermatozoa undergo damages in vitro due to lipid peroxidation among other factors. Extender supplementation with exogenous antioxidants could mitigate lipid peroxidation and improve semen quality. However, inclusion of antioxidants such as selenium and α-tocopherol in semen extender to improve quality of sperm cells has not been adequately documented. Therefore, effects...
ABSTRACT Conventional vegetable protein ingredients in poultry feed are costly and relatively scarce. Moringa oleifera Seed Meal (MSM) is an oil seed rich in protein, which can be exploited as an alternative vegetable protein source. However, the potential of MSM as a protein source for broiler production has not been adequately documented. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the utilisation of MSM as a protein source in the diets of broiler chickens. Moringa seeds were harvest...
ABSTRACT Conventional protein ingredients are expensive, thus necessitating the use of alternative sources of the nutrient. Feather Meal (FM) is high in Crude Protein (CP) but poorly digested by monogastric animals due to the presence of keratin. Poultry requires exogenous enzymes to break it down to its constituent amino acids. Information on digestibility of CP of FM in broilers is scanty. Therefore, ileal CP digestibility of FM supplemented with protease in broiler chickens was investigate...
ABSTRACT Three experiments were conducted to determine the performance of small ruminants fed crop residue supplemented with tree leaves and shrubs. Experiment 1 was undertaken to determine the chemical composition of eight browse species harvested during the dry and wet seasons of Ghana. Also, the chemical compositions of untreated rice straw (RS), sodium hydroxide treated rice straw (STS) and urea ammoniated rice straw (UTS) were determined. Samples were analyzed for Dry matter, Crude prot...
ABSTRACT Tick infestation of cattle remains one of the major constraints to cattle production in Africa. Reduction of ticks should, therefore, enhance cattle production which is critically needed to ensure economic and food security. In the current study, 59 farmers were interviewed about the types of pesticides available for routine pest control on their farms. There were different types of acaricides commercially available for use in Ghana and the addition of new types from different compan...
ABSTRACT Livestock development projects are aimed at increasing livestock productivity and increasing household incomes of participating livestock farmers and processors and traders in Ghana. Ghana has implemented two of such projects within the last two decades: The “National Livestock Services Project” and “Livestock Development Project”. The components of these projects were development of animal production, development of animal health, credit provision, and capacity building. T...
ABSTRACT Milk, fat and protein first lactation records of 27,137 British Columbia Dairy Herd Improvement cows were analysed for gross genetic and environmental influences. The average production was 5,663 kg of milk containing 3.59% fat and 3.23% protein. Age at freshening accounted for 3.0, 3.7, 3.7, 0.28 and 0.15% of the variance in milk, fat, protein, percent fat and percent protein respectively. Cows freshening in the winter had higher average milk, fat and protein yields than those fres...
ABSTRACT The indigenous guinea fowl plays a vital role in the agricultural industry as both its meat and eggs are healthy, tasty and serve as an important protein source for consumers. However, genetic progress on this bird has been partially hindered by the absence of polymorphic markers, especially microsatellites. Therefore, this study developed for the first time original microsatellite markers for this economically important species. The 454 sequencing technique (next-generation sequenc...
ABSTRACT A study on the use of bovine colostrum as an alternative source of immunoglobulin for lambs was carried out at the University of Ghana’s Agricultural Research Centre — Legon. The study involved a total o f fifty-six lambs. Thirty-three of them were bottle-fed with frozen bovine colostrum that was thawed whilst the remaining (twenty-three) were allowed to suckle their dams and served as the control. The mean serum immunoglobulin concentrations for the two groups of lambs were meas...