Newbouldia laevis leaves extract: Nutritive value, Phytochemical constituent and effect on growth performance and faecal egg count reduction in West African Dwarf rams raised semi intensively
This study was conducted to assess the effect of Newbouldia laevis leaf extract on growth performance and faecal egg count of West African Dwarf sheep. A total of twenty four growing West African Dwarf rams between 12-15 months old and of balanced weight were used for the experiment. The rams were allotted to three treatment groups containing 8 animals per group, each group were drenched with Newbouldia laevis leaves extract at the rate of 0, 30, and 60 mgkg -1 of their body weight (BW) for three consecutive days in a week for 14 weeks. Data were collected on weekly performance and faecal egg count of experimental rams. The Newbouldia laevis leaves extract contained 55% moisture, 5.68% crude protein, 5.61% crude fat, 10.54% crude fibre, 2.15% total ash, 21.02% NFE and 20.22% NDF. It also had 0.00015 %, 0.00229 %, 39.2 %, 2.5 %, 0.00296 %, 2.92 %, 0.00286%, 0.00163%, 0.624%, 0.00044% and 0.00001 % of flavonoid, terpenoid, tannin, alkaloid, phytic acid, trypsin inhibitor, phenol, antioxidants, carotenoid, oxalate and cyanide, respectively. Animals drenched at 60 mg kg -1 body weight (BW) had the highest growth performance curve followed by those drenched at 30 mg kg -1 BW with animals on 0 mg kg -1 BW being the lowest. Irrespective of the level of drenching of the extract, the faecal egg count did not follow a particular trend. Hence, Newboudia laevis leaf extract had no effect on the faecal egg count of the WAD sheep raised semi intensively but have the capability of improving the growth rate of sheep. Keywords: Newbouldia laevis , Performance characteristics and faecal egg count.