Poultry feeds are prepared to contain all the nutrients in their right proportions necessary for good health, proper growth and egg production of the chicken. This study was undertaken to determine the proximate composition and variations of nutrient in some commercial poultry feeds sold in Abuja, Nigeria. Seven poultry feed brands in their various ratios were subjected to proximate analysis using standard methods. The results of the analysis revealed that the poultry feeds had proximate composition ranging from 6.58 ± 0.02 - 10.88 ± 0.19 % moisture content, 6.03 ± 0.16 - 14.78 ± 0.73 % ash content, 9.98 ± 0.81 - 20.05 ± 0.08 % crude lipid, 3.57 ± 0.11 - 14.77 ± 0.14 % crude fiber, 16.55 ± 0.07 % - 34.01 ± 0.09 % crude protein, 26.28 ± 1.80 % - 48.21 ± 2.07 % carbohydrate and 2971.48 ± 65.44 - 3686.18 ± 29.08 Kcal/kg metabolizable energy. Generally, there were differences in the proximate composition of the poultry feed brands analyzed, however, the poultry feeds have optimum nutrients in their feeds which meet most of the requirements recommended by SON and NRC. The moisture contents in all the feeds were within the recommended value of not more than 12 % while the mean values obtained in crude lipid were all higher than the maximum recommended requirements in poultry feeds.

Heavy metals retention by vegetables and crops planted along road-side is of awesome concern due to dangers associated with human health risks. This paper therefore evaluates the levels of heavy metals in onion bulbs, onion leaves, tomato fruit, cabbage, carrot roots, green beans and green pepper on Road-side Farms in Farin-Lamba, Jos South Local Government Area, Plateau State, Nigeria using AAS model AA240FS. The results of analysis show that the mean concentration of the heavy metals obtained by sum of all the plants analyzed were Cd: 0.633 ±.02; Cu: 0.209 ± 0.07; Pb: 0.756 ± 0.5; Cr: 0.566 ±0.07; Mn: 0.457 ± 0.3; Zn: 0.663 ± 0.1 and Ni: 0.057± 0.02, respectively. The result shows that the vegetable samples have high content of lead and low content of nickel. The average values of the heavy metal content obtained were compared to Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and world Health Organization (WHO) Standard limits, cadmium 0.2 mg/kg, copper 0.1 mg/kg, lead 0.3 mg/kg, chromium 2.3 mg/kg, manganese 0.4 mg/kg, zinc 3.3 mg/kg and nickel 5.0 mg/kg. The results from the study show that the mean concentration of chromium, zinc and nickel were within the permissible limits set by FAO/WHO with exception of cadmium, copper, lead and manganese which were higher than the permissible limits. Therefore, consumption of these vegetables by members of the communities where these vegetables were planted or other communities expose the population to adverse effects of these heavy metals. This may pose a serious health challenge on long term consumption of the vegetables.