Global Journal of Animal Scientific Research
Volume:6 Issue: 1, Winter 2018

In an experiment to determine the efficacy of an extract from the leave and root of Ixora coccinea plant on the organoleptic properties, physical properties and carcass characteristics of broiler chicken. Two hundred and seventy (270) day old Ross broiler chicken were in a complete randomized design using analysis of variance (ANOVA), Duncan multiple range test was used to differentiate the means. There were four (4) treatments each for root and leave extract and one antibiotic control treatment, each of the treatment having 3 replicates with 20birds per replicate. The root extract (R1, R2, R3 & R4) and leave extract (L1, L2, L3 & L4) were administered at the rate of 2ml, 4ml, 6ml and 8ml while the antibiotics was applied at 1g per litre of water. The experiment lasted for four (4) weeks. The result of organoleptic properties for colour, flavour, aroma, texture, juiciness and overall acceptability shows that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the control, 2ml, 4ml, and 6ml, except for 8ml with the lowest score across all the organoleptic parameters for both root and leave extract. In both the root and leave extract cooking loss was higher (p>0.05) in control compared to other treatment, thermal shortening and cooking yield were lower (p>0.05) in control compared to other while water holding capacity have no significant different (p<0.05) for both root and leave extract. There was significant different (p>0.05) in most of carcass characteristics except for internal organs, head, neck, shank and back which were not significant different (p<0.05) for root extract. The level of the crude extract of Ixora coccinea used in this study enhance the carcass characteristics, physical and organoleptic properties of broiler chicken, with best result achieved at 2ml, 4ml and 6ml respectively

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of camel and human brucellosis and to assess the association between risk factors and sero-prevalence in Mid Rift Valley of Ethiopia from September 2013 to April 2014. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used. In the study 768 camel and 250 human sera were screened for Brucella antibodies using Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT). Rose Bengal Plate Test positive sera were further tested using Complement Fixation Test (CFT) as per OIE recommendation. The herd-level  seroprevalence was 36.5% (70/192). In addition herding experience did also affect the status of  seroprevalence among the respective categories (p<0.05); but reproductive status did not significantly affect the status of  seroprevalence (p>0.05). History of abortion, fetal membrane retention and stillbirth were found to be significantly (p=0.000, p=0.004 and p=0.000) associated with brucellosis. Out of 250 persons (male and female) tested 15 were RBPT positives and the RBPT positive samples were tested using CFT accordingly all of them were seropositive, the positive reactor being  shepherds. There was a high risk of acquiring the infection during retention of fetal membranes (p=0.000) and for people who were both in contact with animals and drank raw milk (p=0.001). In conclusion the study showed that camel and human brucellosis were prevalent in the study area and appropriate control measures need to be introduced to alleviate the disease problem in the region

Data collected from 1988 to 2011 at Metekel Ranch, Ethiopia was used to estimate genetic parameters of growth traits of Fogera cattle. The data set used for analysis consisted of 5513, 3223 and 3223 records for BWT, AWWT, and PADG, respectively. Four animal models were used fitting direct animal (Model1), direct animal and permanent environmental (Model2), direct and maternal genetic (Model3), and all the above random effects (Model4). Heritability values and additive variances for all traits were low. Estimates of direct heritability of growth performance traits from the best model were 0.03 ± 0.02, 0.06 ± 0.03 and 0.05 ± 0.03 for BWT, AWWT and PADG respectively. The phenotypic correlation between growth traits ranged from -0.10 ± 0.02 for BWT and PADG to 0.99 ± 0.01 for AWWT and PADG and genetic correlation ranged from 0.5 ± 0.27 for BWT and PADG to 0.99 ± 0.00 for AWWT and PADG. The low heritability estimates might be indication of low genetic control of the expression of a trait and this might also be an indication of presence of high environmental effects influence.