Air drying of wild sunflower leaf (Tithonia diversifolia ): Effect on its anti-nutritive components and haematology of West African dwarf goats

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of air – drying treatment on the anti – nutritive components of wild sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia).Fresh leaves of wild sunflower were air – dried for 7 days and subjected to chemical analyses to determine their proximate and phytochemical components. In order to assess its effect on haematology of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats (n=20, aged 5 – 7months, 6.94 ± 0.37 kgweight), the air – dried wild sunflower was milled to form Wild Sunflower Leaf Meal (WSLM) and incorporated into their concentrate diets. ,. The goats were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments containing graded levels of WSLM (0, 10, 20 and 30%). Proximate composition of WSLM ranged from 18.06 – 21.14 % crude protein, 18.25 – 18.90% crude fibre, 3.49 – 4.00% ether extract, 14.10 – 14.14% total ash and 46.10 – 41.82% NFE. Phytochemical analysis indicated the presence of tannin, phytin, oxalate, saponin, alkaloid, phenols and flavonoids both in the fresh and dried leaves. Quantitative records revealed a significant lowering (P<0.05) in all the contents of the antinutritive factors except for saponin, after the air – drying process. Blood analysis of the WAD goats indicated no significant differences (P>0.05) in all the haematological parameters measured, as the values obtained for the Red blood cells (RBC),White blood cells (WBC) and Packed cell volume (PCV) were all within the standard range. It can therefore be concluded that supplementing WAD goats' diet with WSLM with up to 30% did not have any deleterious effect on the goats.