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The role of the agricultural sector in human development and economic development cannot be overemphasized. Awareness for increased agricultural production is on the increase, arising from the need to feed the ever-increasing human population. Interestingly, almost all agricultural activities generate wastes, which are generated in large quantities in many countries. However, these wastes may constitute a serious threat to human health through environmental pollution and handling them may result in huge economic loss. Unfortunately, in many developing countries where large quantities of these wastes are generated, they are not properly managed because little is known about their potential risks and benefits if properly managed. There are studies that address some of the challenges of agricultural solid wastes as well as suggestions on how they can be properly managed. In this chapter, we intend to explore the major sources of agricultural solid wastes, their potential risks, and how they can be properly managed.

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Feeding has been reported to be responsible for the high cost observed in poultry production. The use of unconventional feedstuff for poultry production is however limited due to their fibrousness and inability of birds to possess the cellulase enzyme that can digest the fibre, nevertheless, physical treatments of these unconventional feedstuffs enhance their possibility in poultry production. The objective of this study therefore, was to evaluate the nutrient status of cowpea seed hull after being subjected to different treatment. The Cowpea seed hull that was not subjected to any form of treatment served as the control i.e. Untreated cowpea seed hull (UCH), while a portion was soaked and boiled (soaked and boiled cowpea seed hull, SBCH) and another portion soaked for 3 days, soaked cowpea seed hull (SCH). The seed hull in each treatment were analysed for their proximate composition, metabolisable energy (ME) and fibre fraction. The trial revealed a steady increase in crude protein (CP) of the test materials with the highest increase (18.43%) in crude protein recorded in SCH substrate compared to 6.73% increase in SBCH substrate. A corresponding decrease in crude fibre (CF) was recorded with 15.00% loss for SCH substrate while 6.97% loss in crude fibre was observed for SBCH substrate. Changes of 1.73% and 4.22% were recorded for nitrogen free extract (NFE) in SBCH and SCH respectively, while ME changes by 1.67% and 5.39% for SBCH and SCH substrates respectively. The effects of both physical treatments on ash and insoluble ash were not significant. Fibre analysis revealed that 7.55% (53.00% to 49.00%) and 18.87% (53.00% to 43.00%) of acid detergent fibre (ADF), 7.41% (81.00% to 75.00%) and 16.05% (81.00% to 68.00%) of neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and 2.5% (40.00% to 39.00%) and 22.5% (40.00% to 31.00%) of cellulose were loss in SBCH and SCH substrates respectively. There were no significant effects on the acid detergent lignin (ADL) and hemicellulose components of the test samples due to these physical treatments. The result revealed that the different processing methods resulted in increase in the crude protein contents with a corresponding reduction in crude fibre of the seed hull. The changes observed must have been due to fermentation that occurred during the soaking of the seedhull.

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Two hundred and seventy, day-old Arbor Acre strain of broiler chicks were used for this research. The birds were randomly divided into five treatment groups of 10 birds/m 2 /replicate (0.1m 2 /bird) in Treatment 1 (positive control) while those in Treatments 2 (negative control), 3, 4 and 5 had 20 birds/m 2 /replicate (0.05m 2 /bird). Birds fed dietary Treatment 1 and 2 had no supplementation with vitamin E, whereas birds on dietary Treatments 3, 4 and 5 had 50mg/kg, 100mg/kg and 150 mg/kg vitamin E supplementation respectively. All treatments were replicated three times. At the end of the 4 weeks of experiment, carcass characteristics (Cold shortening (CS), Thermal shortening (TS), Cooking loss (CL), Shear force (SF) and Water Holding Capacity (WHC)) of the birds were determined. There were no significant changes in the weight gain and final weight of the birds fed the different dietary treatments. However, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) revealed that birds on dietary treatment 2 had the highest significant value of 3.29 compared to those on Vit E supplemented diets. No significant different was observed in the WCH of both raw (58.43% to 59.43%) and the cooked meat (59.02% to 59.51%) for all the treatments. Birds fed dietary treatment 2 (negative control) had the highest significant (p<0.05) CS value of 3.50% compared to its counterparts on Vit E supplemented diets with values ranging from 2.45% to 2.55%. No significant difference was observed in the SF of the birds in all the treatment with mean value ranging from 3.35% to 3.60%. In conclusion broiler chicks could be stocked up to 20 birds/m 2 only if the diet is supplemented with 100mg/kg Vit. E.

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