Management Strategies for Funding and Sustaining Early Childhood Education in Nigeria

This paper examined the existing management strategies for funding Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Nigeria with a view towards its better funding and sustenance. It recognised the commitment of the Nigerian Governments and the support of the community, individuals and foreign sponsors in funding ECE programmes. It argued that, nevertheless, much more needs to bedone towards providing adequate funds for quality teachers/ caregivers, supply of appropriate facilities and stimulating learning materials as well as supervision of ECE programmes. Towards this end, increased government allocations, sustained international support, financial allocation to ECE teacher training institutions, equity funding and cost-sharing strategies were recommended.Keywords · Early Childhood Education · Management Strategies · Fundin

Effects Of Varying Levels Of Dietary Protein On The Carcass Characteristics Of Growing Rabbits

Sixteen New Zealand White rabbits aged 9-10 weeks and weighing 0.72-0.99 kg were used to examine the effects of varying levels of dietary protein on carcass characteristics of rabbits. They were divided into four groups and allotted to four dietary treatments A, B, C and D formulated with10, 13, 16 and 20 % crude protein (CP) respectively. Average dressing percentage and average weights (on liveweight basis) of carcass, hind limbs, forelimbs, breast, lumbo-sacral, heart, liver, kidneys and lungs were not affected by the dietary treatments. The results indicated that differentlevels of dietary protein had no significant (P >0.05) effect on carcass yield in rabbits.Keywords: Dietary protein level, rabbit, carcass characteristic

Effect of feeding poultry litter on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of savanna brown goat

A twelve week trial was conducted to investigate the growth performance, digestibility and carcass characteristics of twelve male kids of Savanna Brown goats aged between 5 and 7 months with initial average weight of 8097.63 g fed graded levels of dried poultry litter. The study involved fourfeed treatments (T1 = 0.00 %, T2 = 12.00 %, T3 = 24.00 % and T4 = 36.00 %), which were formulated to be isonitrogenous (14.50%) and replicated three times. The goats were randomly assigned to each treatment using a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Results showed no significant (p>0.05) differences in feed intake, growth rate, feed conversion efficiency, dry matter, ash, crude fiber, ether extract digestibility and carcass characteristics among the treatment means.However, the result of cost-benefit analysis showed significant (

Replacement value of rubber seed (Hevea brasiliensis) meal for full-fat soya bean meal on performance, carcass characteristics and blood parameters of broilers.

Rubber seed meal (RSM) contains about 28.63% CP but also high in CF (20%). Rubber seed cake was extruded after the extraction of rubber seed oil from the Rubber Seed oil processing Department of Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria, Benin-City. The rubber seed cake was then milled to produce RSM. Soya bean meal (SBM) was prepared by processing sun-dried soya bean seeds in a combined toaster, grinder and extruder. The experiments reported in this study were to investigate the utilization of RSM as a replacement for SBM in the diets of broilers. In the first experiment, 225 seven days’-old broiler chicks of Anak strain were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 which had 100% SBM: 0% RSM, 75% SBM: 25% RSM, 50% SBM: 50% RSM, 25% SBM: 75% RSM and 0% SBM: 100% RSM respectively. The CP level was set at 24% and energy level at 2900kcal/kg. The birds were further sub-divided into three replicates of 15 birds each. The trial lasted for 28 days. In the second experiment, design and feed formulation were similar but the CP level was set at 21% and energy at 2700kcal/kg. 225 five weeks old broiler chicks from the first experiment were fed the broiler finisher diets. At the end of the 9th week, 2 birds were randomly selected from each of the replicates for carcass, organ weight and haemotological evaluation. In experiment 1, feed intake of the birds on diets containing RSM up to 75% inclusion level compared favourably with the control (0%RSM). In the second experiment, feed intake increased significantly (P<0.05) with increase level of RSM inclusion up to 75%. Body weight gain, FCR and nutrients digestibility of birds fed diets containing RSM up to 50% inclusion level compared favourably with the control (0%RSM). The relative dressing percentage, heart weight and haemological parameters of the birds fed different levels of RSM based diets were comparable. The weight of the gizzard increased significantly (P<0.05) with increase level RSM inclusion. Dietary inclusion of RSM reduced the cost of producing 1kg of feed. Therefore, RSM can be used to replace SBM at 50% inclusion level in the diets of broilers without any deleterious effect.Keywords: Rubber seed meal, Performance, Carcass characteristics, Blood parameters, Broilers

Frequency and effect of spur gene on metric parameters in the Nigerian local chicken in Niger state

A study on the frequency and effect of spur gene (sI) on some metric parameters in the Nigerian local chicken was conducted on 750 adult free range indigenous chickens brought to the market for sale in the three administrative zones of Niger state, Nigeria. The parameters measured were body weight (BL), body length (BL), body girth (BG), wing length (WL), shank length (SL) and shank thickness (ST). The result shows that the calculated gene frequencies of 0.87, 0.89 and 0.90 were significantly (P<0.05) higher than the expected Mendelian frequency of 0.75 for dominant alleles. Spurred (sI) birds in zone C were significantly (P<0.01) heavier (2.19kg) than those in zone A (1.58kg) and zone B (1.50kg). Spurred birds from zone C were also significantly (P<0.01) longer (43.8cm), had better body girth (26.1cm), wing length (24.5cm), shank length (11.7cm) and shank thickness (1.23cm) respectively. It was concluded that spurred (sI) birds in zone C performed relatively better in most of the parameters measured.Keywords: Spur, metric parameters, Nigerian local chicken, frequency

The growth performance and nutrient digestibility of wild indigenous guinea fowl keets (Numida meleagris galeata) fed varying levels of roasted Senna occidentalis seeds under intensive system.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance and nutrient digestibility of wild indigenous guinea fowls fed different inclusion levels of processed Negro coffee (Senna occidentalis) seed meal under intensive management. In the experiment, Roasted Senna occidentalis meal (RSOM) was included at 0.0, 6.50, 13.00 and 19.50 % levels to formulate isonitrogenous (26 % Crude Protein) and isocaloric (3000Kcal/KgME) diets fed to 180 day-old guinea fowl keets during the starter phase. The result revealed that roasting increased the nutritional value of senna seeds in terms of Dry Matter (DM) and CP.Similarly, some of anti-nutritional factors like cyanide and trypsin inhibitors were reduced by 41.89 and 61.76 % respectively. The result of the feed intake ,final weight,FCR,water intake, PER and cost/kg feed showed significant difference(P<0.05).On the other hand, the values of Ether Extract were significantly affected by various inclusion levels of RSOM.The result of the nutrient digestibility revealed no significant difference (P>0.05) in DM,CP and Crude Fibre,however significant differences were recorded in EE, ash and Nitrogen Free Extract.From the result of this experiment, it can be concluded that roasted Senna occidentalis seed cannot be tolerated by guinea fowls keets even at 6.5% dietary level at the starter phase.Key words: Wild indigenous guinea fowl, Growth performance, Roasted Senna occidentalis see

Haematological evaluation of broilers administered probiotics (lactobacillus bulgaricus)

bulgaricus) administered through drinking water on some haematological indices. The birds were divided into three treatment groups each with two replicates. The three treatments were designated as T1, T2 and T3representing no probiotics (control), probiotics administered fortnightly and probiotics given weekly respectively. The experiment lasted for 63 days. The experimental design was completely randomized design.The birds were all given the same starter diet (CP 22%; energy 3000Kcal/Kg) and the same finisher diet (CP 20%; energy 3200Kcal/Kg) respectively. The parameters measured included haemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cell count (RBC), white blood cell count (WBC), blood total protein (TP), albumin and blood triglyceride. Results showed that, Hb, PCV, RBC, WBC, lymphocytes, TP and blood triglyceride were significantly affected (p0.05) by the treatment at the starter phase of the experiment. At the finisher phase, TP was not significantly affected (p>0.05) by the treatment while the other parameters evaluated were all affected (

Performance of rabbits fed diets containing graded levels of processed tallow (Detarium microcarpum) seed meal

A twelve weeks experiment was conducted using eighty one (81) cross bred (Chinchilla x New Zealand white) weaned rabbits with average initial weights of 540g to evaluate the performance of rabbits fed diets containing graded levels of processed tallow (Detarium microcarpum) seed meal. The design of the experiment was 1 + 2/4 factorial and arranged as a completely randomized design (CRD). The rabbits were randomly allotted to nine treatment groups with nine rabbits per treatment. Each treatment had three replicates with three rabbits per replicate. Two processing methods (Cooking and Fermentation) were used to process tallow seeds. Control diet had 100% palm kernel cake (PKC) meal and 0% tallow seed meal, represented as T0. T15 – T4 contained cooked tallow seed meal (CTSM) and included as T1 (75% PKC : 25% CTSM); T2 (50% PKC : 50% CTSM); T3 (25% PKC : 75% CTSM) and T4 (0% PKC : 100% CTSM), While T5 – T8 had fermented tallow seed meal (FTSM) and included at the same levels as observed in the cooked diets. Data were collected on body weight, feed intake, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, protein efficiency ratio and nutrient digestibility were calculated. Only ash content was affected by the processing method in the result of nutrient digestibility. The results revealed that processing improves the nutritional quality of tallow seeds. Rabbits fed cooked tallow seed based diets revealed higher feed intake, final body weight and body weight gain compared to Rabbits fed diets containing fermented tallow seed. It was therefore concluded that cooking and fermentation methods are effective processing method for eliminating the anti-nutritional factors contained in tallow seeds and so can be included in the diets of weaned rabbits at 100 % replacement of PKC without deleterious effect on their growth performance.Keywords: rabbits, tallow seeds, cooking, fermentation, palm kernel cake, performance

Growth response and apparent nutrient digestibility of weaner rabbits fed with diets containing bamboo leaf meal

A ten-week feeding trial was conducted to determine the growth response and apparent nutrient digestibility of weaner rabbits fed with diets containing bamboo leaf meal (BLM). Eighty weaner rabbits were allotted into four dietary treatment groups of twenty rabbits each. The dietary treatment groups consisted of four rations containing 0 (control), 10, 20 and 30% BLM respectively. Rabbits fed diet containing 10% BLM had the highest (P<0.05) final live weight, weight gain and apparent ether extract digestibility. Lowest (P<0.05) final live weight, weight gain, apparent crude protein and ash digestibility were noticed with rabbits fed with diets containing 20% or 30% BLM. Rabbits fed with diet containing 30% BLM recorded the highest (P<0.05) feed intake and lowest (P<0.05) NDF digestibility. It was concluded that inclusion of 10% BLM in diets for weaner rabbits supported improved growth and nutrient digestibility.Key words: Bamboo leaf meal, digestibility, performance, rabbi