Importance of Adding Wheat Germ in Diets of Growing Goats to Improve Some Components of Blood and Growth Performance

This experiment was conducted to study the importance of supplementing wheat germ to the diet of growing local goats in Egypt for improving their some blood biochemical components as well as growth performance. Forty goats with 4 months age and average initial body weight 5 ± 0.5 kg were used in the present study which lasted 5 months. The animals were divided randomly into two equal groups; the 1st group fed basic diet without supplement (control) and the 2nd group of animals fed on the same basic diet with supplemented wheat germ at the rate of 5 g/head/day. The body weight was recorded at the beginning and the end of the experiment to calculate the daily gain of body weight for each animal. Blood samples were withdrawn at the end of experiment to estimate some blood parameters concentrations including total protein, albumin, globulin, urea, creatinine, total cholesterol, Ca, P, Mg, Zn, immunoglobulin G (IgG), total antioxidants and triiodothyronine (T3). The results showed that the addition of wheat germ by the rate of 5 gm/ head/ day to the diet of growing goats significantly increased the concentrations of total proteins, globulin, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc and led to significant decrease in the levels of total cholesterol. Significant improvement in levels of IgG, total antioxidants and T3 hormone in the blood were also observed. In addition, there was significant improvement in the feed efficiency of growing goats although total and daily gains of treated animals were affected by the diet supplement. It could be concluded that addition of wheat germ (5 g/head/day) led to modification of all studied blood components and led to improved feed efficiency in growing local goats, therefore, it could be recommended to use the wheat germ in growth stages because the economic return to this addition is preferable.