Journal of Animal Sciences and Livestock Production Open Access

Performance and Blood Constituents of Crossbred Weaned Pigs As Affected By Mixed Sawdust Based Diets

Ogunbode AA^*, Adebola AI and Olalere OE Department of Animal Production Technology, Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora, Nigeria
^*Correspondence: Ogunbode AA, Department of Animal Production Technology, Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora, Nigeria, Email:

Received: 05-Mar-2022, Manuscript No. IPJASLP-22-12560; Editor assigned: 10-May-2022, Pre QC No. IPJASLP-22-12560(PQ); Reviewed: 24-May-2022, QC No. IPJASLP-22-12560; Revised: 23-Dec-2022, Manuscript No. IPJASLP-22-12560(R); Published: 02-Jan-2023, DOI: 10.36648/2577-0594-7.1.32

Introduction

Pig production provides means by which rapid transformation of animal protein can be achieved. Although pigs production are frequently hindered by some cultural and religious taboo, they possess several good attributes including high prolificacy, high fecundity, short generation interval, early maturity, high feed conversion efficiency and a modest requirement with respect to housing and equipment. Despite these attributes of pig production, high cost of feed increases the price of pork beyond the reach of the average consumer. The cost of livestock feeds alone account for about 70% of the total cost of production of monogastric animals and this has led to unprofitable livestock production. The rapid increase in the price of orthodox feed ingredients in Nigeria has led to an increase in the total cost of intensive pig production. The resultant effect is high cost of animal protein hence inability of the populace to meet the minimum dietary protein intake of 56 g per person per day as recommended by FAO. Large quantities of agro-industrial wastes such as sawdust which are not being effectively utilized especially for feeding are produced in large quantities annually in the tropics and are thereby constituting environmental and health hazards. Sawdust is a product resulting from cutting, grinding, drilling or pulverizing wood with saw or other tool, it is compose of fine particles of wood, it could also be derived from certain animals, birds or insects which live in wood, such as wood pecker and carpenter ant and it is abundant throughout year. Nigeria is endowed with abundant forest reserves, most of which are located in the southwestern part of the country. There has been significant increase in the number of sawmills in this region of the country with Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ogun states having the largest number. This is as a result of the need to satisfy the growing demands for wood for building and other construction purposes. The saw millers typically fell timber from the forest, transport them to their mills and saw the timber into lumber of various dimensions. In the process, sawdust and other wood waste such as wood bark, slab, log-ends etc are produced. Nigeria has an estimated wood waste generation of about 1,000,000 m3 annually between 2009 and 2010 with sawdust amounting to about 1.8 million tons annually (4931.51 tons per day) reported that the total quantity of sawdust generated in the southwestern region of Nigeria annually as 526,650 metric tonnes. The natural degradation of sawdust is very slow and it is a waste of low use nowadays. Its storage is creating serious pollution problems in the soils in which it is settled because it occupies a lot of space, sawdust causes considerable environmental problems. However, in the last few years back, the efforts to find alternatives for its utilization in order to obtain new high value products have increased. One of its advantages as feed resource is that the sawdust does not compete directly with the food destined for human consumption. Many of these unconventional feed ingredients are fed to livestock without consideration to their health and physiological implication on the animal. A readily available and fast means of assessing clinical and nutritional status of the animal on feeding trial is the use of blood analysis. Hematological and serological profile are helpful in evaluation of pigs health and also provides valuable information on presence of metabolites and other constituents which are instrumental for detecting conditions of stress reported that 35% substitution level of mixed sawdust could effectively be substituted for wheat offal without adverse effect on the health status of broilers. It had also been reported that 10%inclusion level of mixed sawdust as a substitute for wheat offal had no deleterious effect on the internal organ of grower rabbit. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the influence of dietary inclusion of mixed sawdust on performance and blood indices of crossbred weaned pigs [1-6].

Materials and Methods

The experiment was carried out at the piggery unit of the Teaching and Research Farm of the Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology Igboora, Nigeria. The experimental area lies in Savannah forest zone at latitude 7°. 43N and longitude 3°.28E in an elevation of 140 m above sea level. The average minimum temperature is above 21.5°C and maximum average temperature is about 32 5°C (Google Earth, 2019). The test ingredient (sawdust) was collected in its dried form from a saw-mill in Igboole, Igboora after which dirts and unwanted materials was removed from sawdust before it was then included in the diet of the experimental animals. Eighteen (18) crossbred (Large white X Landrace) weaned pigs in their 8^th weeks of age was obtained from the piggery unit of the Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora. The pigs were injected with ivomec (0.5 ml per pig) subcutaneously against ecto and end parasite and fed 4% of their body weight as feed per day and the feed intake was increased as the animals increased in age and water was supplied ad libitum. The pigs were allowed seven (7) days acclimatization and the animals were fed twice daily. The experiment lasted eight (8) weeks. Diets were formulated to meet the nutrient requirements of the weaned pigs. Three experimental diets were formulated to contain graded levels of mixed sawdust. Treatment one (T₁) was the control without mixed sawdust while treatments T₂ and T₃ contained 5% and 10% mixed sawdust respectively [7-12]. Gross composition of the experimental diets is presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Gross composition of experiment diet.

Experimental design used was Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Initial weights were taken and subsequent live weights were recorded weekly using a hanging spring balance. Total weight gain was calculated as final live weight minus initial live weight. Feed intake was obtained as the difference between the total quantities of feed offered and the quantity not consumed, feed conversion ratio was computed by dividing the daily feed intake by the daily weight gain. Blood samples were collected at the end of feeding trial through the ear vein using a sterile syringe and needle. Blood sample per pig was collected into two sets of labeled sterilized bottles. One set contained anti-coagulant (EDTA–Ethyl- Diamine Tetra Acetic Acid powder), while the other set did not. The set of bottles containing anticoagulant was used to determine the values of hematological indices such as size of Hemoglobin (Hb), Packed Cell Volume (PCV), Red Blood Cell (RBC), White Blood Cell (WBC), and Platelets. Values obtained were used to calculate Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (MCH) and Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration (MCHC) [13-16].

Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV)=PCV x 10/RBC

Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH)=Hb x 10/RBC

Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration (MCHC)=Hb x 100/PCV.

The set of bottles without anti-coagulant was used to determine the serological indices such as total protein, albumin, globulin and total bilirubin using bromocresol green method. Chemical analysis of the experimental diets and mixed sawdust were determined according to the method of (AOAC, 2005). Data on live weights and blood indices were subjected to one-way analysis of variance. (SAS 2012) and the means were separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test (Duncan, 1955).

Results

The results of growth performance of crossbred weaned pigs fed mixed sawdust based diets are presented in Table 2. The highest value (48.00 kg) for initial weight gain was obtained in pigs fed diet 3 (10% sawdust) while the lowest value (40.50 kg) was recorded for pigs fed diet 1 (0% sawdust). Final weight gain was highest in pigs fed diet 2 (413.5 Kg) while T₁ had the lowest value (403.3 kg). The best feed conversion ratio (1.80) was recorded for pigs fed diet 2 (5% sawdust) and diet 3 (10% sawdust) respectively. Hemoglobin concentration ranged from 7.07 to 11.60. Pigs fed diet 3 (10% sawdust) had the highest value (35.67) of packed cell volume while the least value (24.00) was obtained in diet T₂. White blood cell, red blood cell and platelets were found to be highest in pigs fed diet T₃ [17-22].

Discussion

There was significant (p<0.05) difference in the final weight across the dietary treatment with pigs maintained on diet T₂ having the highest value (413.5 kg) while pigs on the control diet had the lowest value (403.3 kg). This could be attributed to the presence of certain unidentified growth factors contributed by mixed sawdust since the diets were similar except for control diet. Certain phenolic compounds of lignin have antibiotic-like properties and various fractions isolated from wood hemicellulose extract resulted in improvement of performance of chicks when incorporated into corn-soybean meal diet. There was no significant (p>0.05) difference in the daily weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio across the dietary treatment. The data obtained on daily weight indicated that T₂ (5% inclusion level of mixed sawdust) had the highest value (8.14) while the control diet had the least (7.93). The result obtained on feed conversion ratio showed no significant difference (p>0.05) but pigs on 5% and 10% inclusion level of mixed sawdust had a better value of 1.80 compared to the control diet. It is known that the methods of processing have profound effect on the utilization of fibre. Milling or wet processing exposes fibre to attack by microorganisms to some extent thereby leading to its digestibility.

The milling and partial fermentation processes that the test ingredient might have been subjected to in the sawmill before collection and sun drying could have had some effects on its intake when incorporated into the experimental diets. Also high fibre contents of these diets might have been responsible for high feed intake of pigs assigned to the treatments since the fibre levels of the experimental diets increased correspondingly as the sawdust inclusion level increased [23-25].

Table 2: Performance characteristics of pigs fed mixed sawdust based diet.

Haematological indices of crossbred weaned pigs fed mixed sawdust based diet

Results of the hematological indices of crossbred weaned pigs fed mixed sawdust based diets are shown in Table 3. The dietary treatments influenced (p<0.05) the Hemoglobin (HB), Packed Cell Volume (PCV), Red Blood Cell (RBC) and white blood cell (WBC). The crossbred weaned pigs fed 10% mixed sawdust based diet had the highest (p<0.05) values for hemoglobin, packed cell volume, red blood cell and white blood cell. However, pigs fed the control diets compared favorably with pigs on the mixed sawdust based diets for platelets, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration. Aletor and and Egberongbe, reported that the blood variables most often influenced by dietary treatments were identified as red blood cell, packed cell volume, plasma protein, glucose and clotting time. The hemoglobin, packed cell volume, red blood cell and white blood cell values were within the normal ranges (10-16 g/dl), (32-50%), (5-10 10⁶/ul) and (7-20 10³/ul). High hemoglobin, packed cell volume and red blood cell improved oxygen carrying capacity of the cells which result in better availability of nutrients. The increased Packed Cell Volume (PCV), Hemoglobin (Hb) and Red Blood Cell (RBC) observed across the treatments indicates that all the diets did not waiver in protein quality and quantity. It also indicates the absence of normocytic anaemia, leukopenia or leukocytosis which is only detected by a decreased number of red blood cell or packed cell volume. Although there were no difference among dietary treatments for mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, their values were within the normal ranges (50-68 fl), (17-23 pg) and (30-36 g/dl). This observation agreed with the findings of Fasuyi and Aletor. They reported no significant (p>0.05) differences in mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration when cassava leaf protein concentrate replaced fishmeal in broiler diets.

Table 3: Hematological characteristics of weaned pigs fed varying levels of mixed sawdust based diet.

Serum indices of crossbred weaned pigs fed mixed sawdust based diet

The serum biochemical indices of crossbred weaned pigs fed graded levels of mixed sawdust are shown in Table 3. The sawdust based diets does not influenced (P>0.05) the serum metabolites of the crossbred weaned pig. Total protein values ranged from (6.73%-7.00 g/dl) but are lower than (7.4-8.9 g/dl) reported by RAR. The values of albumin (2.70-2.93 g/dl). Pigs on diet 3 had the highest albumin value (2.93%) while the least value (2.70%) was obtained on pigs maintained on diet 2. Globulin was highest in pigs fed the control diet while pigs on diet 2 recorded the least value (4.03%). For total bilirubin pigs on the control diet compared favourably with pigs on the experimental diets. Serum proteins have been identified to be good indicators of the metabolism of ingested feeds, state of body cells, tissues and organs. Improved values of serum total protein observed with pigs fed 10% compared to the control diet was an indication that the dietary protein contents of the experimental diets were adequate and well utilized by the animals. Kelly reported that serum albumin is used to measured the amount and type of serum protein in the blood which is an index of health and nutrition. Serum albumin values obtained compared favourably with the control diet implies that the dietary proteins in the experimental diets are enough to support the nutrition and health status of the animals. Globulin carries essential metals through the bloodstream to the various parts of the body of farm animals. It helps to fight infections in the body of animals. Therefore high globulin levels are often pronounced in pigs with serious infections because of abnormally increased production of antibodies. The values of globulin observed in this study revealed that the inclusion of sawdust in the weaned pig diet did not precipitate any severe effects on the health status of the pigs (Table 4).

Table 4: Serum biochemical parameters of weaned pigs fed varying level of mixed sawdust based diet.

Conclusion

Inclusion of mixed sawdust in the diet significantly (P<0.05) decreased the white blood cell differential counts when compared with the control diet. There were no significant (p>0.05) differences in the biochemical analysis of the pigs fed mixed sawdust based diet. It was concluded that mixed sawdust can be included in the diets of pigs up to 10% without any deleterious effect on the performance and blood indices of pigs.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the technical staff and farm attendant for all practical help with the conduct of the trial.

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