A Comparative Study of Fiscal Federalism in Nigeria, the United States of America and the United Kingdom

The clamour for the adoption of ‘true fiscal federalism’ in Nigeria has been a burning issue in several quarters in the last three decades and has been documented in several articles, amongst which is the empirical study of Arowolo (2011:9). The United States of America (USA) which is the oldest federation in the world, and the United Kingdom– Nigeria’s erstwhile colonial master – were compared alongside Nigeria using qualitative comparative research method. This paper shows that these three countries have a lot of fascinating resemblance and conflicting ideals. For instance, although these three systems of fiscal federalism assign more powers to the central government, the manner in which the exercise these powers varies from one country to the other. Notably, while the Federal system of government in Nigeria exercises control over the natural resources of the devolved units, the devolved unit in the USA maintain control over their natural resources and remit returns to the centre; and in the UK mineral resources such as oil, gas, coal, gold and silver are controlled by the state while others are owned privately. The study, therefore, recommends amongst others that Nigeria should take a clue fromthe USA and UK system of resource control and fiscal federalism in order to foster national cohesion and promote sustainable growth and development among the federating units

Evaluation of the Nutritive Value of Mixture of Fermented Bovine Blood and Rumen Digesta for Broiler Finisher

A 35-day feeding trials involving three hundred (300) 5 week old broilers was carried out in a completely randomized design to evaluate the performance, organ characteristics, nutrient utilization and economic analysis of broiler finishers fed diets containing a mixture of fermented dried bovine blood and rumen digesta (FBBRD) at dietary levels of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% respectively. At the end of the feeding trials, two birds were randomly selected from each treatment and transferred to a metabolism cage for faecal collection and determination of nutrient digestibility. Another set of five (5) birds were randomly selected from each treatment for carcass and organ weight evaluation. Birds on the test material performed generally better in all the parameters measured than the control group. There were no significant (P<0.05) difference among the groups in relative organ weight. The groups on the test materials (FBBRD) also recorded better nutrient nutrient utilization values than the control group. The results suggest that up to 20% inclusion level of FBBRD meal could be tolerated by broiler finisher without any adverse effects on performance. Keywords: Fermented Bovine Blood and Rumen Digesta, Performance, Broiler Finisher

Comparative Performance Of Broiler Chicks fed Diets Containing Differently Processed Mucuna pruriens Seed Meals

A 28-day feeding trial was conducted to determine the effects of dietary inclusion of Mucuna seeds: soaked in Calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) solution, soaked in Ca(OH)2 and cracked water-soaked and cooked, on the performance of broiler chicks. Two batches of raw Mucuna seeds were used. The first batch was soaked in 3% Ca(OH)2 for 48 hours. Part of the soaked seeds were sun-dried and milled. The remaining part were cooked, sun-dried and milled. The second batch was cracked, soaked in water for 48 hours and cooked before sun drying and milling. Both meals were analyzed for their proximate composition and included in broiler starter diets at 20% dietary level respectively. The control diet contained no mucuna meal. Each diet was fed to a group of 40 broiler chicks in a completely randomized design replicated four times. At 20% dietary level containing Ca(OH)2 soaked seed meal significantly (P<0.05) depressed the performance of the birds in terms of feed intake, growth rate and feed conversion ratio. However. soaking in Ca(OH)2 prior to cooking and cracking prior to soaking in water and cooking did not adversely affect the performance of the birds in all parameters measured.Keywords: Mucuna pruriens seed, water soaked, Ca(OH)2 soaked, feed intake, growth rate, feed conversion ratio

Effect Of Dietary Raw, Cooked And Toasted Mucuna Pruriens Seeds (Velvet Bean) On The Performance Of Finisher Broilers

A 5-week feeding trial was conducted to determine the effect or dietary raw, cooked and toasted Mucuna pruriens seeds (velvet bean) on the performance of finisher broilers. Raw Mucuna pruriens seeds contained 30.3% crude protein. At 10% dietary level, raw and toasted Mucuna pruriens seed meals significantly (P < 0.05) depressed growth rate of broilers. At 20% dietary level, cooked Mucuna pruriens seed meal also significantly (P < 0.05) depressed growth rate of the birds. Feed intake was also significantly (P < 0.05) reduced at 20% and 10% dietary levels of cooked and toasted meals, respectively. The feed intake of the group on 10% raw Mucuoa diet remained unexpectedly high.Keywords: Mucuna pruriens seeds, broilers, feed intake, growth rat

Performance of starting broiler chicks on sandbox (Hura crepitans) seed meal

A 21-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the feeding value of raw and cooked Sand box (Hura crepitans) seed meal for broiler chickens . Sand box seeds (100kg) were divided into two batches, the first batch was milled raw undicorticated with a hammer mill to produce raw sandbox meal, the second batch was cooked for 60 minutes also undicorticated, sun dried for 48 hours and milled with a hammer mill to produce cooked sandbox meal. Five broiler starter diets were formulated to contain raw and cooked sand box seed meal at 0%, 5% and 10% dietary levels respectively. Two hundred and twenty five (225) 14-day old broiler chicks of Marshal breed were divided into five groups of forty five(45) birds each. Each group was further divided into three (3) replicates of fifteen (15) birds each and randomly assigned to the five treatment diet in a completely randomized design (CRD). Data were collected on feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio. Dietary treatments significantly (P<0.05) influenced feed intake and body weight gain but had no effect( P>0.05) on feed conversion ratio. The results of these studies suggests that sand box (Hura crepitans) seed meal could enhance the performance of broiler starter chicks at 10% (raw) and 5% (cooked) dietary levels.Keywords: Sandbox seed meal, Broiler starter, performanc

Evaluation of processed velvet beans (Mucuna pruriens) meal in the diet of laying hens

Les effets de la complémentation alimentaire à base de pois Mucuna de 20, 25 et 30% craqué, trempé et cuits (CSCM) sur la production d’oeufs, la qualité d’oeuf et le poids des organes ont été étudiés chez des pondeuses âgées 12 mois. Les pois traités ont été ajoutés à la ration des pondeuses à base du maïs et du soja, nourris ad libitum pour une période de 12 semaines. Tous les régimes alimentaires à base Mucuna ont conduit auxréductions lineaires de la production chez les pondeuses – production journalière chez les poules nourries avec du CSCM à 20, 25, et 30% ont connu une réduction respective de 9,3, 13,9 et 17,5% par rapport aux poules témoins (0% CSCM). Quant au poids des oeufs, il a augmenté de manière proportionnelle (

Phytochemical and Nutritional Evaluation of Raw and Fermented Alchornea cordifolia seed meals on the performancce of Broiler Chicks.

Phytochemical and feeding values of raw and fermented Alchornea cordifolia seed meals were investigated. Raw and fermented seed meals were screened for some phytochemical compounds and also tested on the performance of starter broilers. The meals were included in broiler starter diets at 10% raw and, 10 and 20% fermented, respectively. The diets were fed from 0-28 days of age. Raw Alchornea seed meal contains phytic acids, tannins, saponins, cardiac glycosides, steroids, flavnoids, alkaloids and anthraquinone. Fermenting the seed meal caused 56.2% reduction in the phytic acid content and totally eliminated its anthraquinone content. With 10% raw Alchornea seed meal, broilers grew significantly slower, gained 60.1% of control but feed intake was not statistically different. Inclusion of 10% fermented meal resulted in better weight gain, and feed conversion ratio than the raw seed meal and by 28-days, weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were not statistically different from the control. At 20% dietary level, fermented Alchornea seed meal, promoted much better growth and efficiency than raw but the values were less (p<0.05) than control. It is concluded therefore that fermentation partially destroyed the anti-nutritional factors present in Alchornea seeds; thus allowing successful use of 10% fermented seed meal in starter broiler rations. Higher level of the fermented seed meal reduced performance although the result was much better than in the raw seed meal. Keywords: Alchornea seed, fermentation, toxic factors, broilers, performanc

Evaluation of raw and cooked pigeon pea seed meal as feed ingredient for weaner pigs.

EVALUATION DE LA FARINE DE GRAINES DE POIS DE CAJAN CRUE ET CUITE COMME INGREDIENT DES ALIMENTS POUR DES PORCS AU SEVRAGE Résumé Une étude a été menée pendant 42 jours pour évaluer la performance des porcs au sevrage nourris de farine de graines de pois de cajan (Cajanus cajan) crue et cuite. Trois rations expérimentales pour les porcs à la croissance ont été formulées. La ration 1 (ration- témoin) ne contenait pas de farine de graines de pois de cajan (0% FGP), tandis que les rations 2 et 3 contenaient respectivement 20% de farine de graines de pois de cajan crue et cuite. Chacune de ces rations était servie à raison de 5% du poids vif pendant les trois premières semaines et à raison de 7% du poids vif durant les trois dernières semaines de l'étude, à huit porcs au sevrage âgés de dix semaines pesant entre 6,57 kg et 7,10 kg dans un dispositif expérimental complètement randomisé. Les résultats obtenus montraient une forte baisse (P0,05) à ceux soumis à la ration-témoin. Le coût alimentaire/kg de gain pondéral pour les porcs soumis à la ration-témoin était beaucoup (

Biochemical and microbial qualities of raw, boiled and fermented Mucuna pruriens (velvet bean)

The proximate compositions of raw, boiled and fermented velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens) as well as the microbial flora responsible for the fermentation were investigated. The raw seeds contained 29.40% crude protein, 8.92%, crude fiber, 4.65% crude fat, 5.14% ash and 39.8% carbohydrates. Ordinary boiling of the seeds for 30mins, 45 and 60 minutes at 96 0C decreased the crude protein contents to 29.35, 28.00 and 27.98%, while fermentation of the seeds for 1, 2, 3, and 4 days increased the protein contents to 29.60, 29.75, 30.80 and 31.00% respectively. The bacteria (Bacillus spp, Staphylococcus spp.) and fungi (Saccharomyces spp, Rhizopus spp.) were found to be responsible for the fermentative activities. Animal Production Research Advances Vol. 2(2) 2006: 108-11

Effect of graded dietary levels of Garcinia Kola seed meal on performance, intestinal microbial load, haematological and serum biochemical profile of rabbits.

Effect of dietary Garcinia kola seed meal (GKSM) (bitter kola) on the performance, microbial activities and blood constituents of rabbits were investigated. Four rabbit grower mash were prepared such that diet T0 (control) contained no Garcinia kola seed meal while diets T1, T2 and T3 contained 2.5%, 5.0% and 7.5% Garcinia kola seed meal, respectively, partly replacing maize. Each diet was fed to a group of 9 grower rabbits for 56 days, in completely randomized design (CRD) experiment. Each group was further subdivided into three replicates of 3 rabbits each. Faecal samples were collected from four rabbits per treatment at the first and last weeks of the experiment and used to determine intestinal microbial load of the rabbits. At the end of the feeding trial, blood samples were randomly collected from four rabbits per treatment and used to determine heamatological and serum biochemical profile of the rabbits. Body weight gain, daily body weight gain and feed conversion ratio (g feed/g gain) of the groups on GKSM diets decreased significantly (P < 0.05) while the feed intake increased (P < 0.05). GKSM had no significant effects (P<0.05) on the parasite, cysts of Isospora belli, but significantly eradicated Salmonella and Streptococcus species. Haematological indices (RBC, HB, PCV, MCV, MCHC, MCH, WBC and platelets) were not affected by the treatments (P > 0.05). There were no traces of eosinophils, basophils and monocytes. Biochemical indices (serum cholesterol, serum protein, serum albumin, serum globulin) were also not significantly affected (P > 0.05) by the treatments. The glucose levels of GKSM fed groups were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced. The electrolytes (potassium, sodium and chloride) as well as calcium and bicarbonate levels were not affected by the treatments (P > 0.05). Cost of production (N/Kg gain) was highly increased with increase in dietary GKSM.Keywords: Diets, Garcinia kola, grower rabbits, performance