ABSTRACT
The study was carried out to determine the influence of sweet potato peels and cashew nut shell supplemented with Ocimum gratissium leaves, using growth indices and blood constituents by goats. Eighteen goats with an average weight of 8.11 kg and aged between 8 and 9 months old were allotted to three dietary treatments with six animals per treatment in a complete randomized design. The compared diets which comprised combination of sweet potato peels and cashew nut shell with concentrate respectively were in different ratios which included diet I (30:25:45), diet II (25:30:45) and diet III (20:35:45). Each goat also received 8 grams of Ocimum gratissium leaves as supplement in the diet. The results showed that average feed intake (6.42 kg) and fed conversion ratio (2.15) were highest in diet I and significantly different from other diets. Diet II had the highest significant (P < 0.05) values in final body weight (12.01 kg), average total weight gain (3.89 kg), packed cell volume (29.46%), haemoglobin (10.96%), red blood cell (9.84 × 103/L), lymphocytes (56.01%), monocytes (1.06%), total protein (7.65 g/dl), albumin (3.58 g/dl), globulin (4.07 g/dl) and triglyceride (2.29 mmol/L). White blood cell (7.01 × 103/L), neutrophils (49.82%), cholesterol (42.34 mmol/L), creatnine (1.59 mg/dl) and urea (18.29 mg/dl) were (P < 0.05) best in diet III, whereas initial bodyweight, average daily weight gain, eosinophils and basophils were not significantly different (P < 0.05). It is concluded that diet II has the potential to enhance growth rate and blood constituents of goats.