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By: AKINSUYI M. A., OYENIYI F. G., and AJAYI F. E..
1 Researcher, Department of Agricultural Technology, Ekiti State Polytechnic, Isan Ekiti,Nigeria
2 Researcher, Department of Agricultural Technology, Ekiti State Polytechnic, Isan Ekiti,Nigeria
3 Researcher, Department of Agricultural Technology, Ekiti State Polytechnic, Isan Ekiti,Nigeria
In a completely randomized design, 150 three-week-old Abor Acre broiler birds were randomly assigned into five nutritional treatments, and each nutritional treatment was administered to thirty birds replicated three times, with ten birds each. The birds were fed for 21 days. High-quality cassava peel replaced 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of maize in the five treatment diets T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5, respectively. Body changes were recorded weekly, while feed consumption was recorded daily. Feed conversion ratio, daily body changes, and feed consumed per day were calculated from the records. The dietary treatments had a significant (p<0.05) impact on the final body weight, daily weight gain, daily feed consumption, feed cost, and feed conversion ratio. The final body weight decreased (p<0.05) across treatments as the level of HQCP increased in the diets, with the highest (2557.77 g/b) on the control diet without HQCP. Performance indicators showed significant (p<0.05) comparison across 0%–50% HQCP inclusion levels. Significant (p<0.05) similarity was also shown across 75%–100% HQCP inclusion levels. Samples of blood were drawn for the haematological assay. The inclusion of HQCP had a significant (p<0.05) impact on the parked cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin (Hb), and red blood cell (RBC), but there was no significant difference (p<0.05) at the 25% and 50% HQCP incorporation levels. White blood cell (WBC) and its differentials except the lymphocyte concentration were significantly (p<0.05) influenced by diets. The cost of producing feed decreased significantly (p<0.05) as the amount of HQCP in the diets increased. The results of the study indicated that HQCP would replace up to 50% of maize inclusion in broiler finisher diets without compromising the growth performance and health status of the birds.
Keywords: broiler finisher, high quality cassava peel, blood, growth, maize
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