No abstract

A persistent issue with ruminant production during the dry season in the tropics is scarcity of forages. Producers are faced with the search for alternative feed supplements to address this issue without compromising productivity. Acceptability of Piliostigma thonningii as dry season feed supplement to West African dwarf (WAD) goat was investigated in this study. The WAD goats (n=15) were divided into three treatments of five goats each in a completely randomized design. The animals were fed with Panicum maximum without supplementation at 100% (T1), 90% Panicum maximum+10% Piliostigma thonningii (T2) and 80% Panicum  maximum+20% Piliostigma thonningii (T3). Fresh water was also made available throughout the trial that lasted six weeks. Chemical analysis of the forages was observed while feed intake, weight gain and nutrient digestibility were monitored. Results showed that Piliostigma thonningii had a higher (15.25%) crude protein and lower (57.38%) neutral detergent fibre contents than the grass. Both had comparable energy values. Piliostigma thonningii had relatively high mineral contents while the anti-nutrient contents of phytate and oxalate were relatively low. Although the crude protein intake increased with increasing levels of supplementation, the total dry matter intake was not favoured beyond 10% level of Piliostigma thonningii level. It can be concluded that there was no advantage in feeding West African dwarf goat Piliostigma thonningii beyond 10% level.

Egg producers primarily use oyster shell or limestone as supplemental sources of dietary calcium. This study was conducted to investigate the efficiencies of limestone (CaCo3 ) and oyster shell as calcium sources in the diets of laying hens. Ninety, 58 weeks old Golden Comet Hubbard laying birds were randomly allotted to three treatments of three replicates. Each replicate had 10 birds per replicate. Three different rations were formulated for the study. To include Diet 1 as the control, a diet with bone meal (46%) and oyster shell (54%). Diet 2 had oyster shell and bone meal supplying 82% and 18% of the dietary calcium while Diet 3 had 82% and 18% of the dietary calcium supplied by limestone and bone meal respectively. Feed and water were provided ad-libitum. The parameters measured include: Feed intake (g/d); Hen day production (%); Efficiency of feed utilization (kg); Egg and shell weight (g); Bone weight (g); Ash content of bone (%) and Calcium content of bone (%). The study lasted eight weeks. Results revealed that birds on Diet1 had the highest value for feed intake (0.11 g/d) that differed significantly (P<0.05) from the value (0.10 g/d) obtained for Diet 2 and 3 Hen day production for birds on Diet 2 (57.04) and Diet 3 (56.30) were similar, but differed significantly (P<0.05) from birds on Diet 1 (65.44). Efficiency of feed utilization (EFU kg) was not significantly affected by the dietary treatments as birds on Diet1 had the lowest EFU value (1.80) while birds on Diet 2 had the highest EFU value (2.05). A higher percent of eggs within 50-59g were laid by birds on Diet 3, while eggs of 60g and above were laid by birds on Diet 1 (62 g), significant (p<0.05) variations occurred among treatment means for these egg grade. Egg shell percent was not significant, same trend was observed for bone weight. The effect of dietary treatment on the ash content of bones were similar for birds on Diet 2 and 3, except for bone humerus, however, significant (p<0.05) variation occurred between birds on diets 1 and other two Diets. Calcium contents of the different bones were differed significantly (p<0.05) with birds on diet 3 recording the highest values for all bone investigated. It can be concluded from this study that Limestone can replace oyster shell as a source of calcium in the diet of laying hens without deleterious effect.

The increasing demand for functional foods has heightened request for designer egg products. Supplementing poultry diets with vitamins may increase deposition of certain nutrients in the egg thus enhancing consumer’s health. Therefore, the deposition of vitamin C (VC), iron and phosphorous in eggs of hens fed dietary supplement of VC and vitamin D (VD) at the mid laying phase was assessed in this study. Bovan brown pullets (n = 576) aged 40 weeks were allotted to 12 treatments each replicated six times. A replicate comprised eight pullets. A basal diet was formulated and supplemented with three levels of VC (0, 300 and 600mg) and four levels of VD (0, 1000, 2000 and 3000IU) in a 3 x 4 factorial arrangement and a completely randomized design. At week 46 (sixth week of feeding experimental diets), two eggs were randomly sampled from each replicate and immediately assayed for phosphorus, iron and VC. There was no significant effect (P &gt; 0.05) of supplemental VC on the deposition of phosphorus, iron and VC in eggs. Similarly, phosphorus, iron and VC deposition in eggs of pullets on supplemental vitamin D were not significantly different (P &gt; 0.05). Effect of Interaction of supplemental VC and VD was not significant (P &gt; 0.05) on VC and iron deposition. However, phosphorus deposition in the egg differed significantly (P &lt; 0.05) with varying combinations of VC and VD. Pullets on combined 600mg VC + 3000iu VD, 600mg VC + 1000iu VD and 300mg VC + 0iu VD supplementation recorded similar levels (P &gt; 0.05) of 180.50, 180.60 and 178.67mg/100g phosphorous, respectively which were significantly higher (P &lt; 0.05) than other levels of combinations. Thus, dietary supplementation of VC and VD had no effect on deposition of VC and iron but enhanced pullets egg phosphorus deposition at the mid laying stage.