The cassava peel has been investigated as a good source of energy for various categories of livestock and it has been reported as a good substitute for maize for all classes of pigs.International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has transformed fresh cassava peels intohigh quality, safe and hygienic livestock feed, known as High Quality Cassava Peel®. HighQuality Cassava Peel® was produced by sorting, grating, pressing, sieving and drying offresh cassava peels. Sorting of the fresh (harvested the same day) cassava peels was done by removal of the stumps, large sized woody tubers and other foreign materials before grating, to gradually reduce the particle size, ensure rapid dewatering, drying and easy handling of the sorted peels. Next is the pressing of the grated peels in woven bags using a hydraulic jack and wooden planks. The resultant cassava peel cake after pressing around 30- 35% moisture had shelf life of 5- 7 days. The pressed cassava peel cake was re-grated to loosen it into a free flowing material that can be subjected to sieving to separate the fine mash (lower fiber, high energy content) from the coarse mash (higher fiber, lower energy content). The resultant fine or coarse mash was further dried by toasting or sun-drying to a moisture level of 10-12%. The final product with 10–12% moisture content was bagged and stored safely for 4- 6 months without any spoilage. Proximate analysis of the HQCP® further clarified its quality over that of other processed cassava peels. Series of trials conducted have proved High Quality Cassava Peel as a good substitute for significant portion of maize in the diet of growing and weaned pigs without any adverse effect on the performance and blood parameters determined in each of the studies. The results of the studies conducted on the utilization of the high quality cassava peel as a substitute for maize in the diet of weaned and growing pigs have shown the efficacy of HQCP® to replace significant quantities of maize in their diet. High Quality Cassava Peel demonstrated potential for replacement of up to 15% of the 40% maize inclusion in the diet of weaned pigs and 30% in the diet of growing pigs with or without direct fed microbial (DFM) supplementation. No significant effect of DFM was noticed in the utilization of HQCP® by both weaned and growing pigs. All the hematological and serum biochemical parameters determined were within the normal range for healthypigs. Based on the outcome of the feeding trials, HQCP® has been proved to replace asubstantial portion of maize in the diet of weaned and growing pigs, thereby bringing about a decrease in the cost of production
An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of an acidifier as an alternative to antibiotics on the performance and gut morphology of broiler chickens. One hundred and eighty (180) 7-day old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 3 dietary treatments of 4 replicates each. Each replicate had 15 birds. The diets fed to the birds were: Treatment 1- diet with neither antibiotic nor acidifier; Treatment 2- diet with antibiotic and Treatment 3- diet with acidifier. The antibiotic used was Enrofloxacin which was administered to the birds on Treatment 2 via their drinking water while the acidifier used was Biotronic SE (a combination of propionic and formic acids) which was added to the diet of birds on Treatment 3 at the rate of 4kg/tonne of feed. The experiment lasted 42 days. No significant differences were observed in the feed intake, final weight and weight gain of the birds on the different diets. Significant differences were however observed in the villus height in the duodenum and ileum of the birds. The crypt depth values in the different segments of the small intestines of the birds were not significantly affected by the different treatments.Key words: Organic acids, Biotronic SE, Enrofloxacin, Crypt, villus.
Deficiency in managerial capabilities, shortage of investible capital and high feed cost are major constraints limiting the growth and profitability of smallholder chicken production in Southwest Nigeria. Consequently, empowerment programmes was initiated to train and empower farmers in chicken egg production. Sustainability of the effort depends on the ability of the farmers to generate enough returns for reinvestment into the enterprise. This study evaluates the profitability of chicken egg production under the Korea-Africa Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (KAFACI) project. Weekly data were collected during 2017 and 2018 production cycle on input quantity and cost, and quantity and prices of eggs produced. Analysis was by farm budget analysis. The results showed a decline in mortality rate in farms from 42.74% in 2017 to 7.76% in 2018. Similarly, average egg production per farm increased from 3,977 eggs in 2017 to 18,254 eggs in 2018. Average total income per farm also increased from N225,599.58 in 2017 to N638,758.25 in 2018, whereas gross margin increased from a net loss of N157,097.73 in 2017 to a net benefit of N281,025.93. Loss of revenue in 2017 was attributed to high mortality among laying birds. Cost of feed accounted for 59.34% of the average variable cost of producing table eggs. The study therefore recommended capacity building for farmers on farm-level formulation of cost-effective feeding, as well as improving access of farmers to quality feed at subsidized cost, as an interim measure.
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