Serum biochemical indices and haematology of preweaned west African dwarf lambs fed rumen epithelial scrapings-based diets

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of dietary inclusion of rumen epithelial scrapings (RES); an erstwhile abattoir waste and environmental pollutant on serum and haematological indices of pre-weaned West African dwarf lambs. Twelve primiparous pre-weaned lambs were randomly assigned to three treatments of four lambs per treatment. Each lamb was allowed to suckle their respective dam thrice daily in addition to supplementary experimental creep diets and water ad libitum. The creep feed was formulated such that 0% (A), 50% (B) and 100% (C) of groundnut cake (GNC) were replaced respectively with RES in diets containing 20% GNC. Values obtained for packed cell volume (PCV %) (26.50±1.55, 31.50±2.18, 24.50±0.65), serum total proteins (g/dl)
(5.90±0.13, 8.15±0.33, 7.08±0.28), calcium (mg/dl) (8.43±0.05, 8.73±0.05, 8.73±0.05), urea (mg/dl) (36.50±1.19, 36.25±0.85, 42.25±2.06) cholesterol(mg/dl) (104.00±2.27, 126.00±2.48, 81.25±1.49) and triglycerides(mg/dl) (86.00±2.94, 98.50±4.19, 58.75±1.49) for lambs on treatments A, B and C respectively significantly varied (p<0.05)
with dietary RES inclusion. However, values obtained for serum glucose, creatinine, ALT and AST for lambs on treatments A, B and C respectively were statistically similar (p>0.05). Most indices measured were within the
standard range for lambs. This study underscored the safety and suitability of dietary rumen epithelial scrapings based diets for pre-weaned lambs.