Response of clarias gariepinus to dietary castor seeds processed by different methods

Castor seed variously treated by boiling, roasting, boiling and roasting, decorticated lyle treated, boiling and fermenting was tested for improved nutrient content and elimination of toxins. 10% processed castor seed cake (CSC) was included in diets and fed to 180 catfishes for 4-weeks to assay the dietary castor seed based on performance and some biochemical indices. Processing methods other than boiling improved performance and other measured parameters and some diets containing treated CSC produced results even better than that obtained on the conventional diet (p < 0.05). Dietary boiled CSC elicited low feed intake, body weight gain, poor feed efficiency and high mortality of the fed fish relative to the control diet (p < 0.05). Similarly, boiled CSC in diet gave poor results on biological values of specific growth rate, net protein utilization, nitrogen metabolism, protein efficiency ratio compared to the control diet or diets containing CSC treated by methods other than boiling (p < 0.05). The best result was obtained on the diet containing castor seeds treated by boiling followed by roasting (p < 0.05). For optimum utilization of CSC in nutrition of fish, it has to be boiled and roasted

Performance and nutrients digestibility of piglets fed ditary detoxified balanites augyptiaca friuts

A feeding trial was conducted to assess the effect of dietary detoxified Nigerian Balanites aegyptiaca fruits on performance and nutrients digestibility of weanling pigs. Twenty pigs weighing averagely 4.5 ± 0.85kg were used for the experiment which lasted for one month. The pigs were randomly allocated to the five dietary treatments in a completely randomized design. Five diets made of a corn-soy control diet and four others to which 20% of boiled, roasted, boiled and roasted, boiled and fermented respectively were used. Feed consumption and weight gain of pigs maintained on the Balanites based diets were comparable with the conventional diet (p > 0.05). However, efficiency of feed utilization on the Balanites containing diets was inferior to that on the control diet (p 0.05) but protein and fatdigestibility were significantly influenced by dietary Balanites (p 0.05). Nitrogen consumption using indices of protein intake, fecal nitrogen output, daily retainednitrogen and nitrogen retention coefficient were not significantly different from values obtained on the control diet (p > 0.05). It was therefore concluded that Balanites aegyptiaca fruits, when detoxified by any of the traditional methods adopted, could be incorporated in diets for livestock even up to 70% inclusion level without deleterious effects on animal consuming the feed

Prospects and constraints on utilization of Jatropha curcas seeds in animal feedstuff

Combined physical, chemical and biochemical methods were used to process virgin seed meal of Jatropha curcas L. into treated Jatropha Seed Meal (JSM). Graded levels (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%) JSM treated by the various methods was included in the test diets which were fed ad libitum to 360 albino rats for a month in a single factor design trial. The results revealed that feed intake was numerically highest (p &gt; 0.05) for the rats on the 5 % treated JSM diet, while feed efficiency was highest (p &gt; 0.05) for those on the 10 % treated JSM diets. Weight gain was significantly highest (p&lt; 0.05) for the rats on 10 and 15 % treated JSM diets. Lowest survival rate (17%) was observed on treated JSM diet processed by boiling, roasting followed by fermenting. Biochemical indices measured on treated JSM based diets were comparable with those obtained on the conventional diet (p &gt; 0.05) except for blood cholesterol level (p &lt; 0.05) which was elevated with increasing treated JSM in diets. There were also no significant differences recorded on AST and ALP activities (p &gt; 0.05) between the treatments. Haematological indices investigated including PCV, RBC, Hb were insignificantly influenced by the 5% dietary treated JSM compared with the control diet (p &gt; 0.05) and there was non-significant effect of the dietary treatment on the WBC differential counts of lymphocytes, eosinophils, monocytes and neutrophils. It was established in this study that inclusion of 5% treated JSM in diets had no detrimental effect on albino rats. Further researches are in progress to investigate inclusion of the treated JSM in diets at levels higher than the 5% used in this study.Keywords: JSM, Cockerels, Performance, Biochemical and haematological parameter

Physico-chemical and anti-nutritional characterization of the kernels of some mango (Mangifera indica) cultivars grown in Western parts of Nigeria

Ten mango (Mangifera indica) cultivars grown in western parts of Nigeria were identified as Alphonso, Indesina, Julie, Kent, Mabranka, Magadugu, Peach, Peter, Taymour, and Oori. The percentage weight ratio (PWR) of kernel to fruit, seed to fruit and kernel to seed of the mangoes ranged between 2.38 – 10.79%, 6.36 – 17.21% and 36.22 – 63.35% respectively. The PWR of kernel to fruit (10.79%), seed to fruit (17.21%) and kernel to seed (63.35%) of “Oori” cultivar were significantly higher (p &lt; 0.05) than other cultivars, except the values of PWR of kernel to seed of Indesina (60.05%) and Kent (62.72%). Values of Julie cultivar on the parameters measured were significantly lower (p &lt; 0.05) than others. The range of nutrients of the kernels were protein (6.24 – 8.19%), fat (5.92 – 13.50%), fibre (2.22 – 3.95%), ash (0.52 – 3.54%) and carbohydrate (75.02 – 83.04%). The protein of Julie (7.88%), Indesina (8.05%) and Oori (8.19%) and fat of Mabranka (13.10%) and Alphonso (13.50%) were significantly higher (p&lt; 0.05) than other cultivars. The carbohydrates in the mango kernels was high; although values recorded for Mabranka (75.02%) and Alphonso (75.09%) were significantly lower (p&lt; 0.05) than other cultivars. The pH of fresh mango kernels ranged between 4.10 and 5.80, while titratable acidity was between 9.92 – 64.35mg/100g. The anti-nutrients in the mango kernels were tannin, flavonoid, phenolic compound, oxalate and phytate. Tannin (37.30 – 163.33g/kg), phytate (0.442 – 0.897mol/kg) and oxalate (18.74 – 54.24mg/100g) were significantly different (p&lt; 0.05) among the mango cultivars. Tannin and oxalate contents of Oori (157.33; 54.24g/kg), Alphonso (163.33; 49.55g/kg) and Phytate content of Mabranka (0.442mol/kg), Alphonso (0.453mol/kg) and Indesina (0.478mol/kg) respectively were significantly higher (p&lt; 0.05) compared with other cultivars. Key words: Mango cultivars, percentage weight ratio, nutrients, anti-nutrients

Some nutritional and toxicological studies of Jatropha curcas seed meal in poultry nutrition

Combined physical, chemical and biochemical methods were used to process virgin seed meal of Jatropha curcas into Treated Jatropha Seed Meal (TJSM). 5 % TJSM processed by the various methods was included in test diets 2 to 6 which were fed to cockerel chicks at hatch compared to a maize-soybean conventional diet (diet 1). 144-olympiad cockerel chicks were used in a single factor design experiment and fed ad libitum the six experimental diets for a period of one month. Dietary performance traits gave no significant differences in feed consumption and weight gain on the test diets relative to the control diet (p &gt; 0.05). However, significant difference was recorded on feed efficiency between the reference diet and the test diets whereby the test diets gave less efficiency compared with the control (p &lt; 0.05). Highest mortality rate (83 %) was observed on the diet with JSM which was boiled, roasted and fermented. The biochemical determinants measured on the Jatropha based diets were comparable with those of the conventional diet (p &gt; 0.05) except the value on the blood cholesterol level which was elevated on the Jatropha containing diets (p &lt; 0.05). Also, no significant differences were recorded on AST and ALP activities between the control and test diets (p &gt; 0.05) except the activity of ALT (p &lt; 0.05) which increased on diets with the treated Jatropha. Parameters investigated on haematological parameters such as PCV, RBC and Hb were not significantly affected by dietary treated JSM compared to these values on the control diet (p &gt; 0.05). Similar non-significant effect of dietary treated JSM was observed on the WBC differential counts (p &gt; 0.05). It was established in this study that inclusion of 5 % treated Jatropha seed meal had no deleterious effects on poultry. Further researches are recommended to investigate the acceptability of treated JSM at higher inclusion levels in poultry or other livestock.Keywords: JSM, cockerels, performance, biochemical and haematological indice

Global Agriculture as an Energy Transfer System and the Energy Yield of World Agriculture 1961–2013

The global agricultural system is an energy transfer system converting solar radiation to stored chemical energy in the biosphere through photosynthesis and animal metabolism. Stored energy in the agricultural system is principally in the form of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and oils that humanity appropriates for food, fiber, and fuel. The total annual production of global agriculture was tabulated using data from the Food and Agriculture Organization from 1961 to 2013. Annual agricultural production for each agricultural item (T y−1) was converted to energy yield (kJ y−1) utilizing published proximate analyses (% moisture, % protein, % carbohydrate, % fat/lipid, and % ash). Global agricultural energy yield grew linearly over the 1961–2002 interval. From 2002 onward, global agricultural energy yield also grew linearly, but at a rate 2 times the 1961–2002 rate. Overall, agricultural energy yield more than tripled from 1961 to 2013. Unsurprisingly, energy output of global crops dominated, averaging 85.5 ± 0.4% of total energy output. Livestock and poultry production averaged 13.6 ± 0.4% of annual agricultural energy output, while world fisheries and aquaculture averaged 0.8 ± 0.1% of global energy output. From 1961 to 2013, the feeding potential of global agricultural energy yield exceeded the human metabolic energy requirement by an average multiple of 2.1 ± 0.18. Thus, agricultural production is more than sufficient to feed “The Global Mouth” into the future, and feeding world population is not a production problem per se. Instead, the inability of global agriculture to meet worldwide food requirements results from systemic energy losses associated with significant global food waste, diversion of food energy as feed to livestock and poultry, and appropriation of primary agricultural output for biofuels synthesis