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Poultry production plays a very important role in providing Nigerians with one of the cheapest sources of animal protein. In spite of this great nutritional contribution, some degree of discrepancies exist between its demand and supply vis a vis other economic expectations. This paper evaluates and compares the profitability of four layer production modules using input-output data from secondury sources (research reports and field experiences) and primary sources (2002/2003 input and output prices in Zaria). The modules covered by this paper are: started pullets (0-8 weeks), point of lay pullets (9-20 weeks), commercial egg production (21 - 72 weeks) and full cycle layer production (0)- 72 weeks). Fixed and variable costs were estimated for 500 birds and deducted from gross returns to give the net cash returns. The major investments in the started pullets and point of lay modules were the cost of pullets, accounting for about 61% and 50% of the total cost of production respectively. Feed constituted about 71% and 86% of the total cost of production in the commercial egg and full cycle layer production modules respectively. The analysis also indicate that sales of started and point of lay pullets accounted for over 90% of the gross income from started and point of lay modules while sales of eggs accounted for about 86% of the gross return from the other two modules. Net cash returns were positive for all the modules considered. The returns to Naira invested per year were 0.75, 0.09, 0.14 and 0.16, for started pullets, point of lay, egg production and full cycle layer modules respectively. It is cvident from these results that modules with shorter production cycle tends to generate higher returns to investment, as more batches are turnout per year depending on the length of productiun cycle.

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Present study was conducted to ascertain the effect of cooked African locust bean seed meal (CALBSM) diets on the growth response, organs weights and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens. Two hundred and twenty five day old broiler chickens (Marshall strain) were fed with diets containing CALBSM at dietary level 0, 7.5, 15, 22.5 and 30%, designated as Treatment 1, 2, 3 ,4 and 5.. Diets were allocated with three replicates (n = 45) to experimental animals in a completely randomized design (CRD). The experiment lasted 9 weeks (4 weeks for initial phase, 1 week adjustment period and 4 weeks final phase). The results of growth response at initial phase showed significant differences (P<0.05) in final body weight (977.00 to 1194.33 g), total feed intake (1853.51 to 1905.96 g) and feed conversion ratio (1.63 to 1.79). The highest weight gain and better performance were recorded in chicks fed with 15% CALBSM based diets compared to others. Similarly, the performance of broiler chicken at final phase showed the significant differences (P< 0.05) in the final body weight (2585.75 to 2976.69 g), total weight gain of chicks (957.70 to 1369.70 g) and feed cost per weight gain (181.32 to 239.27 N/kg gain). Higher weight gains in all phases were recorded for broiler chickens fed 15% CALBSM based diet compared to others. Carcass weight (1661.24 to 2020.51 g) and dressing percentages (69.88 to 73.20%) were significantly (P<0.05) higher in chicks fed 15% CALBSM diet over others. Breast muscle (17.79 to 22.27%), thigh and drumstick (16.78 to 19.84%) were significantly (P<0.05) affected by the dietary treatments. Results indicates that most of the organs (heart, lungs, pancreas and kidney) weight but liver did not show significant differences (P<0.05). However, there were significant differences (P<0.05) in the weight of gizzards and small intestines. Present findings lead authors to conclude that African locust bean seed meal cooked for 4 hours could be included in the diet of broiler chickens up 15% dietary level without any adverse effect on growth response, organs weights and carcass characteristics.