Volume 51 (2018): Issue 1 (March 2018)

Nineteen West African Dwarf (WAD) goats were used to investigate the physiological and behavioural responses of dams and kids to short-term separation. The dams were naturally mated with bucks and after parturition the kids remained with their respective dams for 5 weeks. Thereafter, the dams were separated from their kids for 10 minutes / week for three weeks (week 5 – 7). Physiological indicators, namely, eye temperature (ET), heart rate (HRT) and blood glucose (GLUC) were taken from each dam, while the ET and HRT were taken from the kids before and after the separation. The behaviours of the dams and kids were recorded during the separation period at the 7^th week. Changes (before minus after) in the physiological parameters (ET, HRT and GLU) for the three weeks were analysed using repeated measures ANOVA while the behavioural data were analysed using non parametric test (SPSS statistical package). The ΔGLUC of WAD dams was greater at the 5^th than 7^th week. At the 5^th week also, the ΔET was greater in dams with single kids than those with twins. Litter size did not influence the behaviour of the dams during separation. A significant correlation was established between ΔHRT and urination in dams. Although sex of the kids had no significant effect on both the physiological and behavioural indicators monitored, negative correlations were established between vocalization bouts and escape attempts (r = −0.516, P < 0.01), duration of vocalisation and escape attempts (r = −0.427, P < 0.05). In conclusion, only WAD dams showed physiological responses indicative of stress during the period of separation.

Reducing the cost of production while maintaining or increasing the productivity has been a major challenge of pig industry in Nigeria. This gives rise to the use of processing techniques that improve the utilization of relatively cheap feed ingredients. Extrusion cooking process has the potential of improving the digestibility and absorption of rice bran by solubilizing high fibre, deactivating anti-nutritional factors and stabilizing lipolytic enzyme activities in rice bran. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of extruded rice bran based diets on the performance, intestinal microbiota and morphology of weaned pigs. Forty-eight female Large White × Landrace weaned pigs were randomly allotted to three treatments consisting of a control (T1) with 30% inclusion level of raw rice bran; T2 with 30% inclusion level of extruded rice bran extruded at 100 °C, T3 with 30% inclusion level of extruded rice bran extruded at 120 °C. The final body weight, weight gain, and feed conversion ratio were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in pigs on T3 compared with the control group. Morphology data for the small intestine showed that T3 had higher villi (604.15 μm 10⁻⁶) and crypt depth (153.86 μm 10⁻⁶) in comparison with the other treatments. Extrusion cooking processing techniques had a positive impact on body weight gain and feed conversion ratio of the experimental animals as well as improved their intestinal microbiota and morphology.

Soybean lecithin had been used as an alternative to egg yolk in domestic animal semen extender during cryopreservation due to its characteristic phospholipid content which played a major cryoprotective role. This composition of soybean lecithin informed the replacement of soybean with sunflower lecithin (SL) in the extender for the Kalahari Red (KR) buck semen cryopreservation in this study. Effect of different levels of SL on the quality of the KR buck semen during cryopreservation using slow freezing method was evaluated. Semen samples were collected from four KR bucks of between two and two and half of age using artificial vagina, evaluated for motility and then diluted in extenders containing different levels of SL (1.5%, 3.0% and 4.5%) as experimental group and 0% SL or 20% egg yolk as control. Semen parameters including motility, acrosome integrity (AcI), membrane integrity (MI), malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, cholesterol level and seminal arginase activity were evaluated for. The results showed that motility, acrosome integrity (AI) and membrane integrity were comparable at 0%, (22.00 ± 4.58, 82.00 ± 3.51 and 96.00 ± 2.03); 1.5%, (23.00 ± 2.08, 87.00 ± 3.79 and 89.00 ± 2.08); 3.0%, (13.00 ± 2.52, 81.33 ± 0.41 and 76.67 ± 1.20) and 4.5% (11.00 ± 4.51, 85.33 ± 9.88 and 84.00 ± 8.50), respectively, after thawing. SL at 0% had the highest (P < 0.05) values for MDA, cholesterol and seminal arginase activity (1.10 ± 0.008 nmol/ml, 236.35 ± 4.08 mg/dl and 0.54 ± 3.3 E-3 units/mg protein, respectively). Our data suggest that 1.5% sunflower lecithin can be used in place of soy lecithin as a substitute for egg yolk during the cryopreservation of caprine semen.

The rising demand for food quality as well as the crisis of food safety in recent years is increasing consumers’ consciousness of the safety of food they consume. This study analysed the willingness of workers in tertiary institutions to pay for safe buka foods using the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta as a case study. The Contingency Valuation Method (CVM) was used to assess the Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) of a total of 250 members of staff in the University including teaching and non-teaching sampled for the study. The respondents’ were selected using a multistage simple random sampling technique. Data were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics, and logit regression model. The study found that majority of the respondents’ are still within the economically active age group with a mean age of 40 years. The respondents have spent an average length of 7 years working in the University. The commuting time between the respondents’ home and the University is more than 30 min. Almost half of the respondents (46.8%) perceived foods from buka to be very unsafe for consumption. More than half (69.2%) of the respondents confirmed to have had food related ailments among which 57.8% were able to trace the ailment back to the buka foods they ate. An appreciable number of the respondents (83.2%) were willing to pay for the safety of buka foods with a mean WTP of ₦32.5 ($0.16) per plate on any of the buka foods reflecting the prevailing situations in Nigeria and valid exchange rates at the time the data were collected in 2015. The logit regression analysis revealed that bid amount, income, household size and commuting time were the significant factors influencing the probability of respondents’ WTP for buka foods safety. The study concludes that WTP for safe buka foods among the respondents is positive and recommends that the government through her regulatory agencies should help to enforce the necessary standards procedures that buka foods operators will follow to ensure the safety procedures. Buka foods operators on the other hands should abide to the set standards as consumers are willing to pay more to ensure that they consume safe food. The respondents should also be encouraged to maintain small household size so that they will be able to pay more for the safety offoods they consume as smaller household size tends to reduce their financial responsibility.