Nutritional programming assessment on the second filial generation pups of the Wistar rats fed with calcium carbide coerced ripened orange: The Haematological Perspective.

The explicit use of chemicals for fruit ripening is increasing daily and with eminent consequences. The aim of this study is to check nutritional programming on the second filial generation pups of the Calcium Carbide coerced orange juice fed Wistar rats. Mature unripe oranges were gotten from the orange plant in Ogu, Yenagoa, Bayelsa state. The oranges were coerced to ripe with 10gram of Calcium Carbide which was placed in a bowl with 5ml of water for dissolution in a closed metal bucket containing 1kg of the matured orange rapped with black nylon and kept two days to ripe. After ripening, sampled fruits were washed and juiced. 600g of calcium carbide coerced ripened orange was peeled, blended in an electric blender with 350ml/L of distilled water to form the orange juice and was filtered with a clean fine sieve then poured into clean bottles which were labeled and stored in a refrigerator for future use. 21 adult Wister rats [10 males and 11 females] weighing between 126.9- 213.3g were used for this study. The experimental Wistar rats were cohort into two and was allowed to acclimatize for two weeks (fed with grower mash with clean water ) at libitum then, different dosage of the Calcium carbide coerced ripened orange juice was administered orally based on their body weight. A sub-acute test [LD50] was done [with 9 Wistar rats] to assess the lethal dose, using Lorke (1983) formula for administration of samples. Group 1: Normal control group of 6 rats [3 males and 3 females] receive normal water and feeds only as placebo. Group 2: Treatment Group [2] of 6 rats [3 males and 3 females] received Calcium Carbide ripened orange juice. The treatment lasted for four weeks. The Wistar rats were allowed to copulate freely during and after the acclimatization and treatment period. Wistar rats birthed and the Pups of the different groups were collected according to the treatment protocols. The parent Wistar rats were still kept in their distinctive cages without treatment but was allowed free access to feed on the growers mash, clean water and copulation at libitum. In the second birthing the Pups were weighed at birth, at one week and two weeks, then they were sacrificed at the end of the second week and blood samples were collected from the two distinctive cohorts for haematological analysis. The data was analyzed using Statistical Analysis Program for Social Sciences [SPSS 22.0 Version]. The results showed significant increase in PCV, hemoglobin, Total RBC, lymphocytes and reduction in Total WBC, Platelet and Monocytes in the second filial generation pups from the Wistar rats fed with Calcium carbide coerced orange juice. Haematological Indices are biomarkers that indicates functionality of the blood cells with regards to low, normal or high range. There is evidence of nutritional programming in the second filial generation pups as seen in this results.