WAEC Animal Husbandry 2017 past questions
Ten questions from the 2017 WAEC Animal Husbandry paper, with answers and explanations. We hold 33 questions from this paper, and the Skolra app has all of them.
WAEC Animal Husbandry 2017 questions and answers
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1.An example of a humpless cattle is
- AWhite Fulani
- BSokoto Gudali
- CMuturuCorrect
- DRed Bororo
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Answer: C
Muturu is correct. Nigerian cattle breeds are grouped by whether they carry the hump (a mass of fatty muscle over the shoulder) that is typical of zebu (Bos indicus) cattle, which are adapted to the drier savanna zones and kept mainly by the Fulani. Muturu, along with N'Dama, belongs to the taurine (Bos taurus) group of West African cattle that are naturally humpless and small-bodied, but trypanotolerant — able to survive in the tsetse-infested humid forest zone of southern Nigeria where the humped breeds cannot thrive.
- A
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2.Which of the following identification methods could be used in poultry production?
- AEar tagging
- BBranding
- CTattooing
- DWing taggingCorrect
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Answer: D
Wing tagging (wing banding) is the identification method suited to poultry. A numbered metal or plastic tag is clipped onto the patagium, the thin web of skin under the bird's wing, where it stays visible for life without hurting the bird or getting hidden by feathers.
The other methods are built for other classes of livestock, not birds:
Branding uses a hot iron or chemical to mark a permanent scar into the hide. It works on cattle, which have thick skin and no feathers; a bird's skin is too thin and feather-covered for a brand to be useful.
- A
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3.An example of a non ruminant herbivore is
- APig
- BCattle
- CGoat
- DHorseCorrect
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Answer: D
The horse is correct. Livestock are grouped by how they digest plant feed. Ruminants (cattle, goat, sheep) have a four-chambered stomach with a large rumen where micro-organisms ferment fibrous roughage before the animal re-chews it as cud. Non-ruminant herbivores, like the horse (and rabbit, donkey), still live mainly on grass and other plant material, but they lack a rumen. They digest fibre instead through microbial fermentation in an enlarged caecum in the hindgut, after the food has already passed through a simple, single-chambered stomach.
- A
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4.The benefits of planting grass-legume mixture does not include
- AHigher productivity of the pasture
- BDecreased soil fertilityCorrect
- CSuppression of weeds
- DPrevention of soil erosion
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Answer: B
A grass-legume mixture is a pasture made by growing a grass (e.g. guinea grass, elephant grass) together with a legume (e.g. centrosema, stylosanthes) on the same plot.
- A
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5.The vector that transmits trypanosomiasis is
- ATick
- BMosquito
- CHousefly
- DTsetse flyCorrect
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Answer: D
Trypanosomiasis (called nagana in livestock) is caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Trypanosoma, and these parasites are carried from one animal to another by the tsetse fly (genus Glossina). When a tsetse fly bites an infected animal and later bites a healthy one, it passes the parasite into the new host's bloodstream, so the tsetse fly is correct as the vector.
- A
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6.In artificial insemination, semen collected is stored in liquid
- Aliquid helium
- Bliquid oxygen
- Cliquid nitrogenCorrect
- Dliquid carbon (IV) oxide
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Answer: C
In artificial insemination, semen collected from the male animal is first diluted with an extender and then preserved for long-term storage by deep-freezing it and keeping it in liquid nitrogen at about -196°C, inside a cryogenic storage tank (a dewar flask).
- A
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7.Which of the following products could be obtained from poultry by-products?
- AFeather mealCorrect
- BFish meal
- CBlood meal
- DBone meal
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Answer: A
Feather meal is the correct answer.
Poultry by-products are everything left over after birds are processed for meat and eggs — feathers, blood, viscera (offal), heads, feet, and manure. Each of these is turned into a usable product. Feathers in particular are hydrolysed (cooked under heat and pressure) to break down their tough keratin protein, producing feather meal, a protein-rich ingredient used in livestock and poultry feed. Feathers are unique to birds, so feather meal is the product most distinctively tied to poultry by-products.
- A
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8.Lush green forage is wilted before feeding to ruminants to prevent
- AbloatCorrect
- Bscouring (diarrhoea) in the animals
- Cprussic acid poisoning
- Dloss of vitamin content in the forage
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Answer: A
Correct answer: bloat.
Lush, young, green forage — especially legumes — is very high in moisture and contains a lot of soft, rapidly fermentable plant material. When ruminants eat it straight from the field, it ferments very quickly in the rumen and produces large amounts of gas trapped inside a stable foam. Because the gas is trapped in foam rather than free, the animal cannot belch it out, and the rumen swells up painfully — this condition is bloat, and it can kill the animal quickly if not relieved.
- A
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9.Female animals that are not accepted by their male counterparts could reproduce through
- AArtificial inseminationCorrect
- BEmbryo transfer
- CHand mating
- DPasture mating
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Answer: A
Artificial insemination is correct. When a female is rejected by the male she is paired with (this can happen because of size mismatch, temperament, injury, or the male simply refusing to serve her), semen collected from a suitable male can still be introduced into her reproductive tract by hand, using an insemination gun. This removes the need for physical acceptance between the two animals, so mating and conception can still take place.
- A
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10.Muscle rigidity and non-responsiveness to stimulus in dead farm animals is known as?
- ACadaveric spasm
- BRigor mortisCorrect
- CAlgor mortis
- DPutrefaction
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Answer: B
Rigor mortis is the stiffening of the muscles and loss of response to stimulus that sets in shortly after an animal dies. It happens because, once circulation stops, the muscle cells run out of ATP, and without ATP the actin and myosin filaments in the muscle lock together instead of sliding freely, making the carcass rigid and unresponsive.
- A
The questions come from past JAMB, WAEC and NECO papers. We use software to help write the answer options and explanations, and every answer is checked twice before it goes on the site. How we check
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Practise all 33 questions we hold from the 2017 paper, on a timed CBT screen
Every question has the answer and an explanation, in the Skolra app.