Haematological and serum biochemical indices of male wistar albino rats fed raw and processed monkey cola (<I>Cola rostrata</I>) seed meal

Abstract

This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of feeding processed and raw Cola rostrata seed meal (CRSM) on the haematological and serum biochemical indices of some organs (liver, kidney, duodenum, jejunum and ileum) of male wistar albino rats. Cola rostrata seed was processed using different methods; boiling, boiling/fermenting, fermenting, and toasting to eliminate the anti-nutritional factors in it. Six (6) experimental diets were formulated with diet 1 (Control) containing 0% CRSM, while diets 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 contained boiled, boiled/ fermented, fermented, toasted and raw CRSM respectively. Sixty (60) weanling male rats aged 6-7 weeks, were randomly divided into the six (6) dietary treatments groups, which were replicated twice with five (5) rats per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The experiment lasted for 21 days. The results indicated that there were significant differences (P<0.05) in packed cell volume (PCV) and Haemoglobin among the treatment groups. The raw seed (diet 6) resulted in the reduction of the serum total protein, serum albumin and serum globulin. It is concluded that Cola rostrata seed boiled for 30 minutes can be used as feed ingredient in replacing maize in animal diets without adverse effects on haematological and serum biochemical indices studied.

Keywords: Cola rostrata seed meal; haematology; serum biochemistry; and male wistar rats