PHYSIOLOGIC EVIDENCES OF GOOD TOLERANCE OF CONCURRENT RUMEN FISTULATION AND DUODENAL CANNULATION IN WEST AFRICAN DWARF SHEEP

Twelve adult West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep of mean age and body weight of 18 ± 1.19 months and 14.69 ± 2.56 kg body weight respectively were used to study the compatibility of concurrent rumen fistulation and duodenal cannulation with normal life. The compatibility with normal life was assessed by differences in body weight, voluntary feed intake, rectal temperature and some haematological and biochemical parameters for a period of eight weeks between test and control groups. During the study period, all the six animals survived the surgery. There was no significant (p < 0.05) difference in body weight between the test and control groups for the entire study period (week 1-8). The mean rectal temperature of the test group was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than the control group on week 1(44.6 ± 3.15 0 C), week 2 (43.26 ± 4.14 0C) and week 3 (41.15 ± 6.62 0 C) after implantation. Packed cell volume (PCV) and erythrocyte count (EC) were significantly reduced in the test group within the first three weeks (33.19 ± 1.41 to 24.45 ± 1.39% and 7.01 ± 1.34 to 4.37 ± 1.58 x 10 6 µl) respectively. On the contrary, total leukocyte count (TLC), and neutrophils were significantly higher in the test group between weeks 1 to 3 (12.48 ± 4.35 and 31.09 ± 3.67 respectively) compared to the control (8.06 ± 0.95 and 23.41 ± 2.09 respectively. Lymphocytes were insignificantly higher in the test group while voluntary feed intake was insignificantly reduced in the test group throughout the eight weeks. Biochemical analyses revealed that serum creatinine was significantly higher in the test group at week 1 (3.62 ± 1.18)   and week 2 (3.08 ± 1.44) after surgery. There was however, no significant difference in serum total proteins during the study period.  Serum potassium concentrations were significantly decreased in the test group at week 1 (4.96 ± 1.03 to 1.34 ± 0.04). Sodium was also significantly reduced (146.08 ± 3.78 to 96.03 ± 6.21) but on week 3 post implantation (PI). On the other hand, serum globulin was significantly higher in the test group throughout the study period. Gross observations of incision sites showed adhesions characterized by coalesced tissue granulations. The study has shown that the use of polymetric materials in fabricating rumen fistulae and duodenal cannuale could pave way for increased routine nutritional studies in ruminants particularly in developing countries where the availability of these materials constitute great limitation to research involving rumen studies.