Under-utilized crop residues such as maize stover can serve as an important feed resource for ruminants when properly processed and preserved if it is well processed and preserved especially during the dry season when convectional feeds become scarce. This study investigated the hematological and serum biochemical response of growing West African dwarf growing bucks fed maize stover residues ensiled with different browse fodder mixture over a 90-day feeding trial at the Teaching and Research Farm of Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology Igbo-ora, Nigeria. Sixteen (16) growing WAD bucks aged 6 - 9 months and weighing 6.00-10.00kg were allotted randomly to four dietary treatments, each with 4 bucks and 2 bucks per replicate in a completely randomized designed. Animals were fed experimental diets at 3% of their body weight, with silage-consume levels adjusted across treatments and a constant concentrate supplement. The compared experimental diets (ED) were: T1 (100%MSRS silage+ 300g concentrate), T2 (MSR70GS30 silage+ 300g concentrate), T3 (MSR70FT30 silage + 300g concentrate) and T4 (MSR70GA30 silage + 300g concentrate) and fed for each individual animal per day. Significant (P<0.05) differences were recorded for most hematological indices except for MCH. Buck maintained on T3 and T4 diets had the highest packed cell volume (30.00%), while the lowest value (20.00%) for PCV was recorded on buck fed diet T1. Hence, buck fed diet T3 that contained (MSR70FT30 silage + 300g concentrate) recorded highest white blood cell (WBC) value of 14.25x103 /µl while the least WBC (9.25 x103 /µl) was observed in diet T4. Significant (P<0.05) differences was noted on serum biochemical constituents across the dietary treatments. Highest total protein (7.30g/dl) was observed in bucks fed diet T3 while lowest value (6.30g/dl) for total protein was noted in diet T1. Overall, the findings indicate that feeding MSR70FT30 silage supplemented with 300g concentrate promotes better nutrient utilization and supports improved hematological and serum biochemical profiles in growing WAD bucks without causing adverse health effects.
Adebisi et al. (Wed,) studied this question.