A laboratory studies were carried out to investigate the effect of fermentation duration on nutrients and antinutrient composition of shea butter seed meal, SBSM. 500g of the wet unprocessed SBM was cooked for 1 hour after which it was cooled and divided into 5 portions. The first portion was tagged T1 and oven-dried. The remaining 4 were bagged in different air-tight polythene bags and allowed to ferment for 3, 4, 5 and 6 days and each treatment was labeled as T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively. At the end of the processing, each treatment was replicated and the samples analyzed. Crude protein and ether extract were significantly (P<0.05) improved as the days of fermentation increased. The values increased from 10.33 and 2.76% to 15.58 and 4.50%, respectively at day 3 fermentation. However, the values reduced as fermentation entered day 5 and 6. Fermentation of SBSM for up to day 4 (T5) and 5 (T6) gave the best (P<0.05) result for crude fibre (14.37 and 14.78%), whereas fermentation for as early as 3 days gave same result for ash as compared to those of day 4 (4.48%), 5 (3.29%) and 6 (3.11%), respectively. Similarly, fermenting SBSM for up to 4 days gave significantly (P<0.05) the highest value for gross energy (3.13 kcal/kg) whereas that of day 5 produced the highest value of NFE (63.51%) but similar to that of day 2 (61.98%). There was no significant (P>0.05) variation in the value recorded for DM across the treatments. Consistently, the best (P>0.05) result obtained for all the minerals evaluated were on the fourth day of fermentation except for days 3 (0.06%) and 6 (0.04%) which were comparable to both the control (0.09%) and day 4 (0.09%). Fermenting SBSM for up to day 4 gave the best (P>0.05) result for potassium (0.36%), calcium (0.18%) and phosphorus (0.36%). However, the treatment did not (P<0.05) affect the concentration of magnesium. Saponin and phytic acid were significantly (P<0.05) reduced due to fermentation for 3 to 4 days but were increased (P<0.05) beyond this duration of fermentation. However, there was no variation (P>0.05) in the results obtained for tannin (0.001 – 0.003%), oxalate (0.0010 – 0.0014%) and flavonoids (0.005 – 0.006%). The vitamins analyzed namely A, B6 and α- tocopherol were consistently improved (P<0.05) from the beginning of the time of fermentation up to day 4 but reduced (P<0.05) beyond this period of fermentation. Monogastric animal farmers can therefore, ferment SBSM for at most 4 days and conveniently feed their animals as a replacement for conventional energy source.
Tiger nut offal is one of the common agro by products available in appreciable quantity all yaer round especially within the northern part of Nigeria. Its nutritional value is somewhat close to those of maize offal. Therefore, a 56 - day experiment was conducted to evaluate the response of broiler chickens fed graded levels of Tiger nut offal (TNO) as an energy source. Five iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric diets tagged T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5, were compounded to contain 23 and 20% crude protein and 2800 and 3000 kcal/kg of metabolizable energy for starter and finisher phases, respectively. The TNO was included at 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% levels in treatments, respectively such that T1 served as the control diet. A total of 200, one day old chicks were allotted to the 5 treatment groups, replicated 4 times and each replicate was allotted 10 birds. Parameters evaluated included growth rate, economics of production, blood parameters and carcass characteristics. The results showed that there was no significant variation (P>0.05) in the values obtained for growth parameters, economics of production, haematological parameters and serum biochemistry. However, there was significant difference (P<0.05) in dressed weight (1155.00 vs. 1350.00 vs. 1350.00 vs. 1525.00 and 1530.00 gbird-1 ) and shanks weight (59.50 vs. 100.00 vs. 67.00 vs. 85.00 and 60.00 gbird-1 ) which increased across the treatments as the levels of inclusion of TNO increased in the diets. Birds fed the diets 15 (T4) and 20% (T5) gave the best results compared to those fed the control and other levels. From the results of this experiment, poultry farmer can use up to 20% of TNO as a replacement for conventional energy source in the diet of broiler chickens without compromising the meat quality and health status of the birds.
(55.66 vs. 57.24 and 67.57%), glucose (20.15 vs.19.15 and 16.18 g/dl), protein (31.25 vs.30.25 and 30.75 g/dl), cholesterol (7.78 vs.7.38 and 8.55 mg/dl) and creatinine (39.47 vs.37.82 and 39.15 mg/dl) (57.14 and 44.36%), hemicellulose (64.45 and 50.43%) and glucose (18.88 and 18.10g/dl) but improved (P<0.05) those of acid detergent lignin (43.55 and 54.54%), protein (30.33 and 31.17 g/dl), cholesterol (7.70 and 8.10 mg/dl) and creatinine (37.85 and 39.78 mg/dl
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