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Several indigenous and exotic browse species with potential for development of agroforestry technologies in the humid tropics of west Africa have been identified, but information on their fodder yield and quality, and how this is influenced by age of coppice regrowth is scanty and limited to a few species. The effect of age of coppice of regrowth (8, 12, 16, and 20 weeks) on fodder yield, and concentrations of crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), acid detergent lignin (lignin), and acid detergent ash (ADF-Ash) in the fodder of 27 browse species was studied in the humid forest zone of southeastern Nigeria. The fodder yield, and concentrations of NDF, ADF and lignin increased (p<0.05), while CP declined (p<0.05) with increasing age of coppice regrowth for all the browse species. The ADF-Ash concentrations of eight browse species increased linearly (p<0.05), while that of 19 species followed a quadratic (p<0.05) trend in response to increasing age of coppice regrowth. Bauhinia monandra, Calliandra calothyrsus, Dalbergia sissoo, Enterolobium cyclocarpum, Grewia pubescens, Gliricidia sepium, Leucaena leucocephala, Senna spectabilis, and Terminalia superba were identified to have high potential for the development of integrated crop-livestock agroforestry technologies in the west African humid tropics based on fodder yield, concentrations of CP, NDF, ADF and lignin. Coppice regrowth of the promising species could be harvested between 16 and 20 weeks to maximize yield and quality of the fodder. The results showed that fodder yield and chemical composition could be used to identify browse species for the development of agroforestry technologies for smallholder crop-livestock farming systems.

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Since prehistoric times, sheep and goat farming has been an integral part of the farming system of the people of South east Nigeria. This study investigated the current state of sheep and goat farming amongst households in Imo State south eastern Nigeria. A total of one hundred and fifty (150) structured questionnaires were distributed to farmers randomly selected from three Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Imo state namely, Oru West, Ahiazu Mbaise and Ezinihitte Mbaise to determine the socio-economic characteristics, production systems, breeding and reproduction, constraints and strategies for economic improvement in a focus group interview. Only 89 farmers were available for interview. The results revealed significant decline in sheep and goat farming amongst the households across four generations within the households interviewed. Lack of interest due to poor policy framework, low productivity of existing breeds, difficulty in feed supply and high cost of breeding stock was identified as constraints of sheep and goat production in thiese areas. It was also observed that older people were more directly involved in sheep and goat farming than youths. 59.6% of the farmers were females, and 31-50% of the farmers were between the ages of 31 and 50 years. Farming was the most common occupation amongst the households while trading was the next. Results also showed that 76.4% of the communities had history of sheep and goat keeping whereas 73% of the total families interviewed had a history of sheep and goat keeping. It was also observed that 33.7% of households were involved in poultry enterprise and 25.3% involved in fish farming. Only 4.8% engaged in sheep and goat farming. Results obtained also revealed that 48.3% of the identified sheep and goat farmers kept breeds of sheep and goat from northern Nigeria while 40.4% maintained the west African dwarf breed. 34% of respondents believed that access to grants and credit facilities, 25 % believed provision of land in urban areas, while 21% believed improvement in small ruminant feed technology, would improve production. Lambing and kidding was mostly twice a year (48.3%). Breeding was mostly observed to be uncontrolled (51.7%). Also, the results showed that, 59.6% of the farmers were willing to pay for veterinary services. The most important diseases within these areas were worms, ecto-parasites and peste des petits ruminants (PPR). It can be inferred from the study that farmers within the region appear to pay greater emphasis on poultry production and fish farming to the detriment of smallholder sheep and goat farming which could be attributed to poor knowledge of sheep and goat farming technologies resulting to low productivity.

High feed cost resulting from the use of conventional feed ingredients represents a major challenge in broiler production in South-East Nigeria. Feed constitutes 70% of the cost of production of broiler chickens hence, the replacement of unconventional feed ingredients holds the key to sustainable poultry production. This trial was aimed at determining the optimum inclusion level of palm kernel cake as a partial replacement of soya bean and maize in a broiler finisher diet during a 28-day trial. The PKC was included at 0%, 35%, 40% and 45% of total feed composition and birds were fed ad libitum. A total of one hundred and twenty (120) four week-old broilers were used for the measurements. Birds were allotted to four treatment groups of 10 birds each with three replications in a completely randomized design (CRD). The growth performance and haematological characteristics were evaluated. The results showed significant differences (P<0.05) in the final weight gains, average weight gain and feed conversion ratio but no significant differences was observed in the feed intake. The control diet had the highest average weight gain of 919.20g and 40% PKC inclusion had the least value of 595.47g. At end of the experiment, 6 birds randomly selected from each treatment were fasted overnight and slaughtered for blood samples collection. The results of the haematological parameters indicated significant differences (P<0.05) in the haemoglobin (Hb) concentrations, packed cell volume (PCV), total white blood cell counts (WBC), respectively. Furthermore, the mean cell volume (MCV), mean cell heamoglobin (MCH), mean cell heamoglobin concentration (MCHC) all showed significant variation. However, no significant differences were observed in the red blood cell count (RBC). From this study, it could be concluded that although broiler birds can tolerate high inclusion levels of PKC up to 40%, 35% was the level of inclusion that would result to higher weight gains for optimum productivity.