INFLUENCE OF BREEDS, PHYSIOLOGICAL STATUS AND DIFFERENT FEEDS ON BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF GOATS IN BALI, TARABA STATE

The study evaluated the influence of breeds, physiological status and diets on biochemical parameters of West Africa Dwarf (WAD) and Sahel goats at the Teaching and Research farm of the Federal Polytechnic Bali, Taraba State.  A total of twenty-four does and their corresponding progenies of the two breeds were used for this study. Blood samples were collected from each animal to evaluate the biochemical parameters, which lasted for 12 calendar months. The animals were fed feeds components of Gmelina and cassava peel meal, Gmelina and cowpea husk, Ficus and cassava peal meal and, Ficus and cowpea husk as treatments (T1-T4 respectively).The parameters considered were, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, chlorine, creatinine, albumin, protein, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase. The data obtained was subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA), using (Statistix, version 8.0, 2009) statistical package. The overall results of biochemical parameters by breed, physiological status and diet were 2.044, 103.88, 5.498, 139.84mmol/l, 3.415, 33.053mg/dl, 31.327mmol/l, 45.654g/dl, 8.500, 25.0iu/l and, 51.010g/dl, for Ca, Cl, K, Na, Urea, CRT, P04, ALB, ALT, AST, and TP respectively. Base on the present findings therefore, it is concluded that, Biochemical parameters are useful measures of physiological statuses are quite variable. The study has provided useful body of information/knowledge on the reproductive biology of the two goat breeds of the study area, which hitherto was not available. These indices should therefore be used with caution for any rigorous interpretation.