Performance and Blood Profile of Grass Cutters (Thryonomys swinderianus) Fed Wild Sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia Hamsl. A Gray) Leaf Meal

A 60 day trial involving forty, 3-months old weaned grass cutters of mixed breeds and sex with initial weight of between 830 and 850g was conducted to examine the effect of feeding different levels of wild sunflower leaf meal on the performance and blood profile of weaner grass cutter. The grass cutters were randomly assigned into five treatment diets in a Completely Randomized Design [CRD] and each group was further sub-divided into three replicates containing three grass cutters each. The grass cutters were fed with formulated growers diet supplemented with Sunflower meal at levels of 0 %, 5 %, 10 %, 15 % and 20 % representing treatments 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Feed intake, final weight gain were the performance criteria measured while the blood profile includes hematology and serum analysis. Results showed that the grass cutters fed Wild sunflower meal were not significantly (Pgreater than0.05) in terms of their feed intake, final live weight and hematology. SGPT and SGOT were the only parameters that were significantly affected (P