Corms such as wild cocoyam [Colocasia esculenta] have potential to replace maize as a cheaper energy source in poultry rations. A feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of graded levels of fermented wild cocoyam [Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott] corm (FWCC), as substitutes for maize in the diets of broilers at the starter phase. One hundred and twenty unsexed day-old Hybro broiler chicks were randomly distributed to four dietary treatments in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). There were 3 replicates per dietary treatment with 10 birds per replicate. Diet 1 without FWCC served as the control. Diets 2, 3 and 4 contained 10, 20 and 30% FWCC. Each of the diets represented a treatment. The experimental diets and clean drinking water were supplied ad libitum for 4 weeks (28 days) representing the starter phase of the broiler production. Result of the performance revealed significant (p<0.05) differences in feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio. The economic analysis also showed that cost (Naira58.52) of a kilogram feed was highest (p<0.05) for the control and least (Naira53.10) for 30% FWCC. The least cost (Naira101.24) of feed per kilogram weight gain (p<0.05) was obtained for birds fed 30% FWCC compared to (Naira105.53) for the control. It was concluded that maize can economically be substituted with 30% FWCC in broiler starter diets.
The effect of feeding varying dietary levels of sorghum sprout waste (SS) as substitutes for maize on performance, carcass and blood indices of rabbits was investigated. Thirty growing rabbits of nine weeks of age were allocated to 5 dietary treatments of 6 rabbits per replicate in a Complete Randomized Design experiment which lasted 56 days. The diets were formulated with 0 (control), 25, 50, 75 and 100% SS as substitutes weight for weight in place of maize. Results show that daily feed intake, cost per kg feed, cost of feed per kg weight gain, carcass, organs, most serological and haematological indices investigated were significantly (p< 0.05) affected by dietary treatments. The trends obtained in these parameters across the treatments were not definite and not depict adverse effects on the experimental rabbits. The highest (p< 0.05) total protein, albumin, packed cell volume, red blood cells and haemoglobin values were obtained in the experimental rabbits fed 100% SS-based diets. Cost/kg feed reduced (p< 0.05) from N69.07 (€0.32). N63.95 (€0.30), N62.88 (€0.29). N59.77 (€0.28) and N55.11 (€0.25); and cost of feed/ kg live weight from N582.84 (€2.69), N509.04 (€2.35), N445.30 (E2.06), N433.12 (€2.00) and N403.68 (€1.86) respectively for rabbits fed 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% SS. Substitution of maize with 100% SS gave the cheapest cost of production of a kg live weight of rabbits with no deleterious effects on carcass and health depicted by normal serological and haematological values; and could be adopted by rabbits farmers to alleviate the problem of high cost of maize.
Poultry farmers who rely on commercial feeds sourced from the market always suffer some forms of financial loss due to sub-standard nature of such feeds. The normal practice is to formulate a balanced diet and compound the feeds with good quality ingredients. These conditions are not always within the control of the farmers who rely on buying finished feeds from the market. There is dearth of information on the quality of these common types of feedsin the market with the aim of recommending the best to the farmers. This study was therefore, carried out to examine the response of broilers to three commercial feeds at the starter and finisher phases. One hundred and eighty 1-day-old unsexed Marshal broilers at three replicates of twenty birds each were used for the study; and lasted for eight weeks. Feed and water were supplied ad libitum. The performance, carcass, haematological and biochemicalparameters of the experimental birds were measured. The three diets were tagged Diets 1, 2 and 3 each representing a treatment. The average final live weight (AFLW), daily weight gain (ADWG), daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly (P < 0.05) influenced by the feed types (dietary treatments). The highest AFLW (758.37g/b) was obtained for broiler starters fed Diet 2 compared to 689.60g/b (Diet 1) and 263.37g/b (Diet3). The ADWG followed the same trend with birds fed Diet 2 having the highest value (25.67g/b) compared with 23.22g/b (Diet 1) and 8.00g/b (Diet 3). The ADFI (starters) were 72.88, 80.36 and 62.20g/b respectively for birds fed Diets 1, 2 and 3. The corresponding ADFI (g/b/d) for the finishers were 133.63 (Diet 1), 177.53 (Diet 2) and 58.57 (Diet 3); and ADWG (g/b/d) 42.49 (Diet 1), 51.79 (Diet 2) and 8.57 (Diet 3). Diet 2 gave the best performance in terms of weight gain, followed by Diet 1 and Diet 3 in that order for the finishers. However, the average cost per kg weight gain of the birds for the 2 phases were ? 307.88 (Diet 1), ? 309.29 (Diet 2), and ? 582.74 (Diet 3). All the carcass (live weight, bled weight, plucked weight, eviscerated weight, dressed weight and abdominal fat); and internal organs such as heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas, intestine and proventriculus were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by dietary treatments. The RBC, Hb, Basophils, total protein, albumin and globulin differed significantly (P < 0.05) across the diets. It can be concluded that birds fed Diet 1 gavethe best overall economic, carcass, haematology and serological performance. Commercial Diet (feed) 1 is therefore recommended for broiler farmers.
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