DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
Vision
Our vision is to be recognized as leaders amongst entrepreneurial and research-intensive departments and as key players in the training of graduates that will acquire sufficient practical skills and theoretical knowledge to engage in teaching, research, entrepreneurial and other related activities in the Animal Industry.
Philosophy
Our philosophy is to produce animal scientists with the right competence that would enable them to harness the tremendous opportunities in agriculture through designing appropriate technologies that are demand-driven in response to local needs for sustainable animal agriculture and livestock production that is economically viable and profitable, socially acceptable, and environmentally friendly.
Objectives
a). To produce the appropriate manpower equipped with necessary skills to establish and profitably operate animal and livestock enterprises;
b). To improve the genetic stock and introduce scientific animal and livestock management in the Delta Creek ecosystem.
c). To promote animal and livestock production and productivity by local small scale farmers, thereby providing solutions to the country’s animal science and livestock production problems and challenges.
d). To equip our graduates with the right technical and entrepreneurial skills and capacity necessary to appropriate their scientific knowhow for the development of practical solutions and the advancement of the animal and livestock sub-sector.
e). To design appropriate technologies that would be demand-driven in response to local needs and resolve ecological challenges for increased and sustainable animal agriculture and livestock productivity.
Admission Requirements:
Candidates seeking admission into the programme must:
Structure and period of studies in the Universities, Industrial Training, planned visit and projects.
Students spend a minimum of five academic sessions (that is, 10 semesters) to complete the programme. The students are first exposed to external farm environment courtesy of farm practice and field course at 200 and 300 Levels, respectively that require excursions and field trips to any functional farm, usually an integrated farm within or outside the state. The whole of the fourth year is used for Industrial Training (IT) programme (also referred to as the Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme; SIWES) at relevant farms and/or institutions.
Presently, the Department places or sends students on IT to:
Also, as part of strategies to strengthen our relationship with the industry partners for the IT programme to enhance the practical skills of students, we have also signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Domita Farms and Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA) – Songhai Farms Bunu-Tai, Rivers State and has been sending students to these farms for a more sustainable and mutually rewarding IT programme (SIWES).
500 level (YEAR 5) courses
| Course Code | Course Title | Unit | Course Code | Course Title | Units |
| ANS 501.1 | Monogastric Nutrition | 2 | ANS 508.2 | Ruminant Nutrition | 2 |
| ANS 502.1 | Applied Animal Breeding | 2 | ANS509.2 | Animal Products and Handling | 2 |
| ANS 503.1 | Game Production and Utilization | 2 | ANS 510.2 | Pasture and Range Management | 2 |
| ANS 504.1 | Poultry, Swine and Rabbit Production | 2 | ANS 511.2 | Reproductive Physiology and Artificial Insemination | 2 |
| ANS 505.1 | Cattle, Sheep And Goat Production | 2 | AGE 508.2 | Agribusiness Management and Finance | 2 |
| ANS 506.1 | Nigerian Feeds and Feeding Stuff | 2 | ANS 500.2 | Seminar | 1 |
| ANS 507.1 | Animal Experimentation and Research Technique | 2 | ANS 599.2 | RESEARCH PROJECT | 6 |
| AGR 502.1 | Advances in Agriculture | 2 | ANS 512.2 | Livestock Economics | 2 |
| AGX 501.1 | Programme Development and Administration in Agricultural Extension | 2 | |||
| Total | 18 | 19 |
Total Units = 37
CUMULATIVE UNITS
Animal Science 180 Units
COURSE SYNOPSIS FOR THE BACHELOR OF AGRICULTURE (ANIMAL SCIENCE) PROGRAMME
YEAR FIVE (FIRST SEMESTER)
ANS 501.1: Monogastric Nutrition (2 units)
Brief history of nutrition as a science. Principles of monogastric nutrition, elements of human nutritional dietary allowances, food surveys and balance sheets; Feeding standards; Nutrient requirements for the various classes of animals; Feed additives and probiotics. Water metabolism in nutrition. Feed evaluation and composition. Ration formulation; Large scale feed mixing and manufacture. The feed industry.
ANS 502.1: Applied Animal Breeding (2 units)
Determination of genetic parameters in farm animals; Statistical tools for studying inheritance, genetic variation and co-variance; Heritability and repeatability; Gene mutation and lethal genes; Improvement of farm animals by application of genetic principles; Breeding systems; Selection methods; Sex determination; Foundation stock and its determination in livestock and poultry production; Advanced techniques in animal breeding – molecular biology, animal genomics, biotechnology, gene cloning, etc. The contribution of animal breeding to the growth and development of animal agriculture.
ANS 503.1: Game Production and Utilization (2 units)
Game production; Traditional uses of game and game products; Problems of game cropping; harvesting strategies and hunting techniques; “bush meat” processing methods; Growth behaviour and reproduction of game animals in captivity; Habits and food preferences; Game ranching and domestication. Design of paddocks, game animal houses and cages; Husbandry techniques and health care in captivity.
ANS 504.1: Poultry, Swine and Rabbit Production (2 units)
Importance of poultry, swine and rabbits; Production, management and husbandry practices, feeding, housing, etc. Sexing in chickens and other techniques peculiar to poultry. Specific techniques relevant to swine and rabbits. Poultry, swine and rabbit health and hygiene. Products processing, distribution, marketing, and utilization.
ANS 505.1: Cattle, Sheep and Goat Production (2 units)
Description and importance of meat and milk types; Milking and ruminant physiology; Husbandry practices including feeding and housing; Health and hygiene. Product processing, distribution, marketing, and utilization.
ANS 506.1: Nigerian Feeds and Feeding Stuff (2 units)
The Nigerian feed industry: past, present and future challenges and prospects. Feeds and feedstuffs in animal (non-ruminant and ruminant) nutrition. Grains, pasture and fodder, concentrates, sources of feeds and feeding stuff and their nutritional value. Identification and feed value of, locally, available feed resources. The place of animal by-products, and crop residues and by-products as feed resources in animal agriculture.
ANS 507.1: Animal Experimentation and Research Techniques (2 units)
Overview of animal experimentation and instrumentation, including precautions to be taken while, planning, developing and executing animal experiments. Techniques and procedures for experiments in the Animal Sciences: animal breeding and genetics; Animal nutrition and biochemistry including grazing trials, studies in pasture and range management; Animal physiology including studies in bioclimatology; Animal products processing and storage; Animal health and diseases diagnostic studies and post-mortem examination. Experimental designs and data analysis using basic statistical tools such as frequency distribution, variation, standard error and deviation, variance, t-Tests, F-Test, Chi-Squared test, measures of location and dispersion, regression and correlation analyses as well as the application of computer-aided statistical packages for data analysis in Animal Science research. Presentation (graphical, pictorial, tabular, etc.) and interpretation of results from animal experiments. Project report write-up and scientific communication in the Animal Sciences.
AGR 502.1: Advances in Agriculture (2 units)
Historical background, Principles (principles of health, fairness, ecology, care) and practice of organic agriculture; Organic crop production, pest and disease management, predator control for sustainable and organic livestock production. Organic forestry, climate change and carbon sequestration, pasture management. Enterprise budgets and production costs for organic production, organic marketing resources and green markets; Hydroponic Agriculture: Preparation of nutrient solutions, media and methods (water culture, sub irrigation, slop and drip). Benefits and constraints; Tissue Culture and Cloning Technology: Introduction, laboratory requirements, effects of hormone balance on explants growth and morphogenesis, callus formation and multiplication, establishment of Suspension cultures and Anther culture. Applications and relevance to Agriculture. Criticisms and laws (Bioethics and Biopyracy). Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) (Health issues, influence on biodiversity, benefits and demerits); organic farm certification and export markets.
YEAR FIVE (SECOND SEMESTER)
ANS 500.2: Seminar (1 unit)
Each final year student is expected to deliver seminar on a chosen topic.
ANS 508.2: Ruminant Nutrition (2 units)
Rumen microbiology and ecology; Physiology of rumen action; Metabolic processes and pathways; Non-protein nitrogen utilization; Determination of digestion coefficients; Balance trials; Systems for energy evaluation; Scheme for protein values; Water metabolism in ruminant nutrition; Water and other nutrient requirements and their inter-relationship in ruminant nutrition; Feed additives and probiotics, feed/forage evaluation; Ration formulation, metabolic and nutritional disorders in ruminants.
ANS 509.2: Animal Products and Handling (2 units)
Preparation of farm animals for slaughter, evisceration and dressing percentages; Care of carcass and its cuts. Processing and care of hides, skin and wool. Meat and meat products processing, cooking flavour and storage. Milk and milk products hygiene, microbiology, processing and cooking flavour. Post-harvest physiology of animal products; Egg quality, sorting and grading; Chemistry and nutritive value of meat, milk and eggs. Products such as butter, cheese, whey, bacon, sausage, ham, pork, poultry products, and so on as well as their processing and storage should be discussed. Food additives; flavours and aroma. Marketing and distribution of animal products.
ANS 510.2: Pasture and Range Management (2 units)
Adaptation and botany of indigenous and exotic pastures and forage plants. Characteristics of grasses, legumes and shrubs. Establishment, production and management of pasture and range plants; Utilization and maintenance in permanent and temporary pastures. Range management and paddock designs; Grazing systems; Forage conservation (hay, silage, etc.), dry season feeds.
ANS 511.2: Reproductive Physiology and Artificial Insemination (2 units)
Reproductive physiology of farm animals – cattle, sheep and goats, poultry, swine, and so on. The reproductive process – mating, gestation and parturition. The role and influence of hormones in animal reproduction. Artificial insemination – importance, processes, techniques and challenges.
ANS 512.2: Livestock Economics (2 Units)
The place of livestock in the Nigerian economy, consumer and consumption pattern of livestock product; Micro and Macro-economics in animal production; Agricultural production functions including data collection and analysis; Marketing theory in relation to livestock production; Application of economic theory and quantitative analysis. Capital investment and depreciation of capital; the economics of egg, meat and milk production. Livestock feed economics; input/return relationship in livestock production.
ANS 599.2: Research Project (6 units)
Each final year student is expected to take up a project topic, propose his research and present findings of the research work. This should be under the supervision of a lecturer(s) in the Department. Hard copies of the project shall then be submitted to the Department.