Blood Profile and Carcass Traits of West African Dwarf Goat Fed Diet Containing LAB-Fermented Jatropha Kernel Cake

This study examined the effect of Jatropha kernel cake fermented with different strains of lactic acid bacteria on the blood profile and carcass traits of WAD goats. For this, five concentrate feed mixtures containing soya bean cake were replaced with LAB-fermented Jatropha kernel cake (FJKC). Fifty WAD bucks were used for this experiment; the bucks were assigned to 5 dietary treatments. Each had 5 replicates of 2 bucks following a completely randomised design of a one-way analysis of variance. The five experimental diets were composed of control (diet A); 0% FJKC, (B) 10 % L. acidophilus DLB07 FJKC, (C); 10% L. plantarum DLB13 FJKC, (D); 10% L. rhamnosus DLB23 FJKC and (E); 10% Co-culture fermentation of three LAB strains inclusion in the basal diet. The bucks were fed the experimental diets for 98 days. On the last day of the experiment, data were collected on haematological and serum biochemical parameters, as well as carcass traits. The result showed that the red blood cell (RBC), white blood cell (WBC) counts, and the neutrophils were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) different among the treatments. The serum biochemical parameters showed significance (p ≤ 0.05) in all the parameters except the Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT). while the carcass traits were similar across the groups. It is concluded that 10% FJKM of the selected strains either singly or in cocktail could potentially be used as replacement for soybean meal up to 10% inclusion in WAD buck diets as it reflects no deleterious effect on the optimal physiological status of the animal.