Haematological and hepatic indices of cockerels fed treated dietary Blighia sapida seeds

Abstract

v>Ninety-six day old Lairier cockerel chicks were used in an experiment to evaluate the after effects of detoxifying(soaking, boiling, addition of riboflavin and glycine to antagonize hypoglycins) dietary Blighia sapida (ackee apple) seed meal,BSSM. Blood chemistry, haematology, liver morphology indices which dietary BSSM influenced and reflected in the performancecharacteristics of the cockerels investigated in a single-factor experimental design experiment were assessed. Results showed thatthe residual phytotoxins of BSSM, hypoglycins A & B with their metabolite MCPA at 17.50% inclusion of the processed BSSM indiets elicited reduction in glucose, protein, albumin, globulin while elevating blood cholesterol, creatinine, urea,total andconjugated bilirubin relative to the reference diet (p <0.05).Dietary BSSM similarly increased the transaminase activities ofAST/SGOT, ALT/SGPT including ACP (p < 0.05). BSSM based diets also caused significant reduction in PCV, RBC, WBC, Hb aswell as MCV, MCH and MCHC similar to the results obtained on WBC differential counts of neutrophils and lymphocytes incomparison with the conventional diet (p < 0.05). Histopathological examinations on the liver samples revealed that the controldiet presented livers that were normal in tissue morphology without inflammation or haemorrhage while the photomicrographsof the liver samples of cockerels fed treated dietary BSSM at 17.50% inclusion showed morphological patterns indicating severedistortion suggesting evidence of haemorrhage and inflammation with numerous blood cells occupying the available hepaticsinuses. The poor results recorded on the biochemical, haematological and morphological parameters were reflected inperformance characteristics as reduced feed intake, weight gain, growth rate, feed efficiency and high mortality were obtained ondiets containing BSSM compared with the orthodox diet (p < 0.05). Findings of this experiment indicated that for optimumresults, processed BSSM be included in diets below the 17.50% level considered high for the birds in this study.