Enzymatic and haematological changes in rats fed owoh: A Nigerian condiment from fermented cotton seeds

The proximate, energy, microbial load of two different owoh samples were determined using standard methods. The enzymatic, haematological and nutritional changes in rats fed owoh samples were also determined. The bacterial loads in the two owoh samples ranged between 4.5 × 106 and 7.5 × 107 cfu/g in Bacillus fermented owoh (BFO) and, 5.7 × 106 and 6.6 × 107 cfu/g in naturally fermented owoh (NFO), respectively. The microbial load in the samples reached the peak value at 72 h of fermentation. Rats fed on diet supplemented with BFO and NFO had average consumption of 10.42 and 8.05 g/rat/day, respectively, while the control (soy meal supplemented) groups recorded 8.49 g/rat/day. At the end of the feeding experiment, the test diets had lower body weight gain compared to the control; though the difference was not significant (p < 0.05). Compared with the control, the rats in the dietary groups had lower organ weight. NFO group had the least amount of packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin concentration and red blood cell (RBC) count with the values of 34%, 9.78 g/dl and 6.92 × 106/mm3, respectively. The alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) ratio were 0.05 and 0.91 for both NFO and BFO, respectively. Test groups had increased amount of AST compared with the control. The values recorded for BFO and NFO were not significantly different from the control.