Apparent nutrient digestibility of broiler starter fed varying levels of processed taro cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta) meal based diet

Abstract

A ten-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the apparent nutrient digestibility of 120, one-day old broiler starter chicks fed varying levels of Parboiled sundried taro cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta) meal (PSCM). Four treatments were formulated with diet one containing 100% maize as control, while in diet two, three and four parboiled sundried cocoyam meal (PSCM) replaced the percentage proportion of maize in diet one at 50, 75 and 100% inclusion levels respectively. Thirty (30) birds were randomly assigned to the four treatment diets in a complete randomized designed (CRD) and each treatment group contained three replicates with ten (10) birds each. Ground fed feed and voided faecal samples collected after a 4-day feeding in a metabolic cage were analyzed for their respective proximate constituent. Apparent nutrient digestibility revealed that crude fibre was significantly (P<0.05) higher in diet 4 while crude ash was significantly (P<0.05) higher in control. Digestible ether extract and NFE were significantly (P<0.05) higher among birds placed on 50% PSCM. It is therefore concluded that parboiled sundried taro cocoyam meal (PSCM) could replace 50% of maize in broiler starter diet without any deleterious effect. However, substituting maize with parboiled sundried taro cocoyam meal at 50% replacement level improved nutrient digestibility and is hereby recommended for poultry farmers.