Studies on Egg Shell Meal as Mineral Source for West African Dwarf Goats (Published)
Studies on eggshell meal (ESM) as mineral source for West African Dwarf (WAD) goats were carried out using 20 WAD goats with an average body weight of 5.84kg. Eggshell was obtained from food vendors (mashayi), and sterilized with hot water without removing the shell membranes. It was then sun- dried and milled. The forage (Northern gamba grass) were harvested fresh and allowed to wilt before feeding it to the goats. They goats were randomly allotted to 4 dietary treatments, having five replicates with goats on T1 receiving the control diet (0%) while those on T2, T3 and T4 received 0.5%, 1.00% and 1.50% levels of ESM inclusion, respectively. Parameters such as performance, haematology and serum biochemistry were assessed. Apart from the mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) which was significantly (P< 0.05) affected by the inclusion of ESM, none of the other parameters were significantly (P> 0.05) affected. For MCH, T1 and T2 were significantly higher than T3 and T4. Although most of the parameters were not significantly affected, the study showed that the inclusion of ESM did not adversely affect the performance, haematology and serum biochemistry of WAD goats. The use of ESM is strongly recommended as a source of mineral (especially calcium) for WAD goats. Egg shell meal is cheap and readily available. When it is harnessed in this way, it will not constitute environmental pollution but will rather reduce the cost of livestock feed since it is freely available, unlike bone meal which is expensive because of its high demand.
Citation: Luka, J. S., Okpanachi, U., James, B. O., Williams, O. J and. Okpanachi G. A. C (2022) Studies on Egg Shell Meal as Mineral Source for West African Dwarf Goats, Global Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol.10, No.5, pp.47-54
Keywords: Mineral, West African dwarf goats, egg shell meal, haematology, serum