Nutrient Intake and Digestibility of West African Dwarf Bucks Fed Poultry Waste-Cassava Peels Based Diets

Abstract

The effect of feeding poultry waste-cassava peel based diets on the nutrient intake and digestibility were evaluated using four West African Dwarf (WAD) bucks. The animals were confined individually in metabolism cages and offered the treatment diets (A-D) in a 4 x 4 Latin Square Design. The diets were formulated from poultry waste, cassava peel, palm kernel cake, molasses, bone meal and common salt. The percent compositions of Dried Poultry Waste (DPW) and cassava peel in the diets were 0, 56.5; 10, 53.5; 20, 43.5 and 30, 33.5% respectively. Each animal received each diet for 24 days. Daily feed intake was determined. Urine and faecal samples were taken and analyzed. The dry matter intake, nitrogen intake, Nbalance and absorbed -N increased as the percentage of dried poultry waste in the diets increased. The faecal -N values differed significantly (p<0.05). The digestibility coefficients of crude fibre, nitrogen-free-extract and energy were significantly (p<0.05) different among experimental animals. All the diets promoted positive N-balance.