The Effect of Soaked Cassava Peels on Weanling Rabbits

The effects of using milled sun-dried cassava peels soaked in water to substitute maize in the diet of mixed breed (Californian x Dutch) weanling rabbits averaging 831 g in body weight were examined in an 8 - week experiment. One of four portions of fresh cassava peels was sun-dried immediately after collection while one of each of the remaining 3 was soaked in basin of water for 1, 3, and 5 hrs before sun-drying. Each portion of the milled peels replaced maize in control diet (MD) at 20% level to give diets UD, S1D, S3D and S5D, respectively. Soaking of peels stimulated a progressive reduction in HCN from 24 to 10.33 mg/kg CPM. Daily BWG, feed intake, FCR and water intake per rabbit were not significantly affected (p >0.05) by water-soaking cassava peels. Dressing percentage and relative weights of heart, liver, kidney, stomach, intestine and caecum were also not significantly different (p>0.05) among treatments. The performance of the S1D fed rabbit was comparatively better than for the control group, while in terms of economics of production all the cassava peel meal diets proved to be more cost effective than the maize-based diet. Cassava peel meal based diets were more cost effective than the control diet. The Journal of Food Technology in Africa Volume 7 No.1, 2002, pp. 12-15 KEY WORDS: Rabbits, water-soaked cassava peels, performance, carcass quality

The Effect of Soaked Cassava Peels on Weanling Rabbits

The effects of using milled sun-dried cassava peels soaked in water to substitute maize in the diet of mixed breed (Californian x Dutch) weanling rabbits averaging 831 g in body weight were examined in an 8 - week experiment. One of four portions of fresh cassava peels was sun-dried immediately after collection while one of each of the remaining 3 was soaked in basin of water for 1, 3, and 5 hrs before sun-drying. Each portion of the milled peels replaced maize in control diet (MD) at 20% level to give diets UD, S1D, S3D and S5D, respectively. Soaking of peels stimulated a progressive reduction in HCN from 24 to 10.33 mg/kg CPM. Daily BWG, feed intake, FCR and water intake per rabbit were not significantly affected (p >0.05) by water-soaking cassava peels. Dressing percentage and relative weights of heart, liver, kidney, stomach, intestine and caecum were also not significantly different (p>0.05) among treatments. The performance of the S1D fed rabbit was comparatively better than for the control group, while in terms of economics of production all the cassava peel meal diets proved to be more cost effective than the maize-based diet. Cassava peel meal based diets were more cost effective than the control diet

Growth performance, blood parameters and production cost of broiler chickens fed dietary sweet orange peel meal diets with and without enzyme addition

The growth performance, blood parameters and production cost of two hundred and fifty two (252) Abor acre plus broiler chickens fed sweet orange peel meal (SOPM) with and without enzymes were investigated. The experimental diets consist of control (T0), maize was replaced with SOPM at 15, 20 and 25 % without exogenous enzymes to form T1 , T2 and T3 respectively, and another supplemented with exogenous enzyme to form T4 , T5 and T6 respectively. The birds were randomly allocated to seven treatment groups replicated three times to have 12 birds per replicate and were fed experimental diet ad-libitum for eight weeks. Result showed that broiler chickens fed control diet (T0) had significantly (P<0.05) higher final weight (FW) of 2.44kg, weight gain (WG) of 42.91, feed intake (FI) of 86.53, better feed conversion ratio (FCR)of 2.01 and protein conversion ratio (PCR)of 0.44 compared to other dietary treatments. Broiler chickens fed T1 and T4 had significantly (P<0.05) higher final weight of 1.98 and 1.98 kg, weight gain of 34.69 and 34.71 g and feed intake of 78.35 and 81.63 g respectively while significantly (P<0.05) least values of 1.75 and 1.80 kg final weight, 30.73 and 31.49 g weight gain and 69.47 and 71.84 g feed intake respectively were recorded in broiler chickens fed T2 and T5. Haematological indices namely: PCV, RBC, WBC and Hb were not significantly different (P>0.05) but MCV, MCH, MCHC, lymphocytes, heterophil, eosinophil and monocytes differed significantly (P<0.05). Serum biochemical indices namely total protein, albumin, globulin and uric acid were significantly (P<0.05) influenced by the experimental diets. Though, there was no detrimental effect of SOPM and enzyme on production cost as profit was made at all replacement levels of SOPM with and without enzyme treatment, but profit per bird (₦) and cost to benefit ratio revealed the superiority of the broiler chickens fed control diet (T0). Based on the results obtained, SOPM can replace maize up to 25 % without posing any deleterious effect on the broiler chickens growth performance, blood parameters and production cost. However, the cost to benefit ratio was compromised with the use of SOPM. Keywords: broiler; performance; orange peel; polyzyme®; blood parameters; economic

Nutrient digestibility and blood profile of rabbit fed aflatoxin contaminated diets containing sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) peel meal

The nutrient digestibility and blood profile of mixed breed grower rabbits fed aflatoxin contaminated diets containing sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) peel meal were evaluated in an 8-week feeding trial. Aspergillus flavus (NRRL 1999) was cultured and used for aflatoxin production in inoculated groundnut cake using the solid state fermentation method. Treated groundnut cake was incubated for seven days with incremental incubation temperature from 20-25oC. The groundnut cake was autoclaved, milled and, aflatoxin extracted from 10 g sample of the milled cake with 50 ml chloroform, and its concentration quantified by TLC. Treated groundnut cake was included at 0, 50, 100 and 150 gram in grower rabbit basal diets containing 5% sweet orange peel to produce diets T1, T2, T3 and T4 having 0 ppb, 50 ppb, 100 ppb, 150 ppb levels of aflatoxin, respectively. Twenty four healthy mixed breed grower rabbits of between six to eight (6-8) weeks old used were randomly allocated to these dietary treatments. Significant (p<0.05) decreases occured in the digestibility of nitrogen free extract, ether extract and dry matter for rabbits fed 100ppb aflatoxin contaminated diet whereas, digestibilities of crude protein, and crude fibre were not significantly (p>0.05) affected among the treatments. Packed cell volume and mean corpuscular volume, serum albumin, urea, glucose and cholesterol differed significantly (p<0.05) but, red blood cell and white blood cell counts, haemoglobin, mean corpuscular haemoglobin, total protein and globulin did not (p>0.05) among the treatments. The declining nutrient digestibility, coupled with the deviations of PCV and MCV and, serum albumin, urea, glucose and cholesterol from normal physiological values showed the health risk associated with the feeding aflatoxin contaminated diet. The incorporation of sweet orange peel meal at 5% level in grower rabbit diet cannot mitigate the adverse effect of aflatoxin on nutrient digestibility and health. Keywords: Rabbit, aflatoxin, orange peel, digestibility, blood profil

Reproductive performance of breeding rabbits fed by graded levels of cassava (Manihot esculenta) leaf meal

Abstract. Twenty breeding does and 4 rabbit bucks aged 28 weeks, weighing between 1622 to 1746g ,were used to investigate the reproductive performance of breeding does fed by graded levels of cassava leaf meal (CLM). The rabbits were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments viz: T (control), T , T and T with CLM inclusion levels of 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30%, respectively, after balancing for live weight. Each rabbit was 1 2 3 4 individually caged and served as a replicate. The feeding trial lasted for 17 weeks. The results showed that does on diet T (100%) achieved the 2 highest conception rate, followed by T (75%) and T (75%) and the least in T (66.67%). Average daily weight change and change in weight 3 4 1 during pregnancy were the highest (p<0.05) in T . Litter size at birth was significantly (p<0.05) lower in T (2.67), while litter size at weaning was 4 4 significantly (p<0.05) higher in T (3.67) Average birth and weaning weights were significantly (p<0.05) higher in treatment T . Percentage of still 3 . 4 birth was higher in T (60%) while pre-weaning mortality was the highest in T (5). It was concluded that the inclusion of up to 30% of CLM in 2 1 rabbit diet may support reproductive performance in female rabbits. It is recommended that further studies on the feeding potential of cassava leaf meal at higher levels of inclusion on reproductive performance be investigated

Egg laying performance and economics of production of japanese quails fed diets containing peeled and cooked sweet potato meal

Japanese quails are small in size, early maturing, come to egg production between 5th and 6th week of life, hardy and prolific but requires local feeds for sustainability. Thus, a feeding trial which lasted for six months was carried out to investigate the effect of feeding peeled and cooked sweet potato tuber on hen-day egg production and economics of production of Japanese quails. Five isonitrogenous (20%CP) diets were compounded. The control diet (A) had zero sweet potato tuber meal. In the other four diets, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of maize was replaced with peeled and cooked sweet potato tuber meal. Three hundred point-of-lay female Japanese quail birds were randomly allotted to the diets in a completely randomized design. Feed and water were provided ad libitum for six months. Each diet was allocated to 60 quail chicks, which were further divided into three replicates of 20 birds each to determine the performance characteristics of the quails. Feed intake, body weight change, age at first eggs, age at 50% egg production, age at 75% egg production, hen-day egg production, hen-housed egg production and feed per dozen eggs were similar (p? 0.05) across the diets. Water intake by birds on diet A was significantly (p? 0.05) lower than the birds on the sweet potato diets. Water intake was significantly (p? 0.05) higher by birds on diet D (51.93ml/bird/day) than those on diets A (42.60) and C (46.68mL/bird/day). Total cost of production did not differ significantly across the diets. Gross margin was significantly higher on diet C (N67, 227.64) than on the other diets except for diet D (N65, 795.52). Results showed that peeled and cooked sweet potato can completely replace maize in the diet of laying quails without adverse effects on performance or on economics of production