Oladunjoye I.O., Ojebiyi O.O., Amao O.A.
Abstract
A 12 week feeding trial was conducted using three hundred and sixty point of lay Haco strain of pullets to evaluate
the effect of feeding diets containing sun-dried cassava peel meal (SDCPM) and lye-treated cassava peel meal (LTCPM)
on their performance. Nine experimental diets were formulated. The SDCPM and LTCPM were included at the rate
of 50, 60, 70 and 80% levels respectively to replace maize of the control diet. The birds were randomly allotted
to nine dietary treatment groups. Diet 1 was the control containing 0% of either SDCPM or LTCPM. Diet 2, 3, 4,
and 5 had 50, 60, 70 and 80% of SDCPM respectively while diets 6, 7, 8 and 9 had 50, 60, 70 and 80% of LTCPM
respectively. There were four replicates per treatment with ten birds per replicate in a completely randomized
block design experiment. Treatment method had effect on the cyanide level of the cassava peels. The lye treated
cassava peels had lower cyanide level than the sun-dried peels. The response criteria show that Hen day production
of the birds fed 50% SDCPM (70.00%), 50% LTCPM (70.40%), 60% LTCPM (70.80%) and 70% LTCPM (69.90%) compared favourably
(P > 0.05) with the birds on the control diet (71.00%). Similar trend was observed for feed conversion efficiency.
Birds fed with diets containing cassava peels either SDCPM or LTCPM had lower (P < 0.05) yolk weight and blood
cholesterol value than those fed with maize based diets. The PCV, RBC, HB and WBC values of birds fed 70%, 80%
SDCPM and 80% LTCPM were lower (P < 0.05) than the values observed for the birds fed the control diet. It can be
concluded that up to 50% of SDCPM and 70% of LTCPM can be used in layer diet to replace maize without adverse
effect on performance and blood characteristics of laying chickens.
Key words:
performance characteristics, egg quality, blood profile, laying chicken, processed cassava peel meal