Abstract
Sun-dried blend of maize offal and blood (SDMBM) was analyzed and its effect on the per- formance of broiler chickens (Anak-2000 strain) evaluated. Fresh blood prevented from coagu- lation, mixed with maize offal, was sun-dried, ground, mixed again with blood and ground into a meal after drying again. The crude protein, fat, fibre, ash, ADF and gross energy contents of SDMBM were, 362.0, 45.5, 31.8, 69.3, 52.3 g/kg DM and 4.245 kcal/g, respectively. It was ade- quate in all essential amino acids for growing broiler chickens except methionine. Eighty 14- day-old commercial broiler chicks were ran- domly allocated to four dietary treatments (fed ad libitum; four replicates each) consisting the control diet (0 g SDMBM/kg diet), which con- tained fishmeal, groundnut cake and soybean meal, and three other diets (50, 100 and 150 g SDMBM/kg diet). In a feeding trial, the starter (14 to 35 d) and finisher (35 to 49 d) dietary treat- ments did not have significant impact (P > 0.05) on body weight gain, efficiency of feed conver- sion, mortality and final body weights. The con- trol diet was inferior (P < 0.05) to 50, 100 and 150 g SDMBM/kg diets for feed cost per unit weight gain in the starter phase, 100 g SDMBM/kg diet in the finisher phase, and 100 and 150 g SDMBM/ kg diets for the whole period (14 to 49 d). Overall, the 100 and 150 g superior (P < 0.05) to the con- trol diet in cost of production per unit weight gain and all the SDMBM diets greater than con- trol in economic benefit per unit weight gain. Results suggest that dietary SDMBM up to 150 g/kg diet has a positive effect on broiler per- formance and can totally replace more expen- sive fishmeal.
Highlights
INTRODUCTIONIn Nigeria, as in most other developing countries in the tropics, the transformation and use of agricultural by-products in livestock diets may have become more imperative due to increasing prices of grains (especially maize and oil seeds) globally and environmental pollution issues
In Nigeria, as in most other developing countries in the tropics, the transformation and use of agricultural by-products in livestock diets may have become more imperative due to increasing prices of grains globally and environmental pollution issues
In comparison with maize offal and vat-dried blood meal, sun-dried maize offal blood meal (SDMBM) was drier as indicated by the moisture content (76 vs. 96.7 and 80 g moisture/kg, respectively)
Summary
In Nigeria, as in most other developing countries in the tropics, the transformation and use of agricultural by-products in livestock diets may have become more imperative due to increasing prices of grains (especially maize and oil seeds) globally and environmental pollution issues. The attraction is the suggested prebiotic attribute of fibrous feedstuffs (Sundu et al 2006) and need to reduce feed costs by utilizing alternatives to maize as source of feed energy (Leeson 2008). An example of such alternatives is maize offal or maize bran. The procedure resulted in quicker sun drying of blood (
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