Dietary Supplementation of Diets Containing Sun-Dried Sweet Potato (Ipomea Batatas) Waste Meal with Yeast Additive on the Growth Performance of Starter Broiler Chicks
Abstract
The study was conducted to determine the dietary supplementation of sun-dried sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) waste meal with yeast additive on the growth performance of starter broiler chicks. The sundried sweet potato waste meal supplemented with yeast was used to replace yellow maize at various levels of 0%, 10%, 15% and 20%, respectively for diets 1, 2, 3 and 4 to determine the best replacement that would give optimal performance in starter broiler chicks. The result of the proximate composition of sundried sweet potato waste meal showed that it contained 88.75% dry matter, 11.25% moisture, 6.28% ash, 4.95% crude protein, 0.82% Ether Extract, 2.64% crude fibre, 74.06%, Nitrogen free extract (NFE), and 3013 Kcal/Kg metabolizable energy. One hundred (100) day-old Anak starter broiler chicks (Ross broiler chicks) were used for the experiment. They were divided into four (4) treatment groups of 24 broiler chicks each. Each treatment was subdivided into three replicates of 8 chicks per replicate. Each starter broiler diet was fed to a group of 24 chicks using completely randomized design (CRD) for 4 weeks. Feed and water were given to the chicks ad-libitum. Parameters measured included initial body weight, final body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and economics of production. Data collected were analysed using one way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). In the starter broiler phase, the starter broiler chicks on 20% sweet potato waste meal supplemented with yeast compared favourably with the control (P < 0.05) in terms of feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio and significantly (P < 0.05) performed better than those on other diets. The cost of production of the starter broiler chicks was lowest for those fed the control diet (Diet 1), N156.59, while the costliest was the starter broiler chicks on diet 3 (15% PWM) (N295.45). The cost/kg diet was cheapest for diet 1 (Control) (N560.07) and the costliest diet was diet 2 (10% PWM) (N625.66). It was therefore concluded that sundried sweet potato waste meal (Ipomea batata) could be used in the diets of starter broilers chicks up to 20% without affecting the body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion.
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Introduction
The broiler chicken is a domesticated bird mainly kept for meat production. It is a quick growing monogastric animal and the returns on investment is very high compared to other livestock (Omole et al., 2006). Feed, which is one of the major problems that affect broiler chickens production constitutes about 60 – 70 percent of the total cost of production (Omole et al, 2006). This is due to the competition between man, animals and industries for conventional feedstuffs that can meet up with the nutritional requirements of broiler chickens and at the same time, reduce the cost of the feed, thereby reducing the cost of broiler chickens production in 'Nigeria (Olerede et al., 2002).
Great emphasis has continued to be placed on research into the use of alternative sources of basal energy feedstuffs in broiler chicken production moreso, with the ever increasing price of maize, which has continued to be the main energy source in livestock feeds (Ojewola, 2005). Agro by-products and wastes have been identified as alternative feedstuffs and can form a major source of energy in animal feeds (Adejumo, 2006). One of such agro-by-products that can be harnessed is sweet potato wastes. Sweet potato is a staple food in Nigeria with the annual yield of 12,245 kg/ha of which some fractional percentage constitutes the wastes (FAO, 1989). The sweet potato wastes are a good source of quality carbohydrate. Sweet potato waste contains about 5.36 percent crude protein and metabolizable energy of about 3,180 Kcal/kg (Oyenuga, 1968; Jansen, 1989 and Osuagwu, 2006). This research was carried out to evaluate the dietary supplementation of diets containing sundried sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) waste meal with yeast additive on the growth performance of starter broiler chicks.
Conclusion
The result of the study demonstrated that sun-drying of sweet potato waste was not quite effective for eliminating the anti-nutrients in sweet potato tubers because there were still traces of anti-nutrients in the dried samples. Sun-dried sweet potato waste meal supplemented with yeast could be used in the diets of starter broiler chicks up to 20% without affecting the body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio.
RECOMMENDATION Based on the result of this study, it was therefore recommended that sun-dried sweet potato waste meal supplemented with yeast could be used up to 20% to replace maize in the starter broiler chicks’ diet for optimum performance.
