A 42-day feeding trial was conducted using 480-day-old, male Marshall broilers to study the utilization of unpeeled cassava root meal (UCRM) supplemented with or without 6 g/kg charcoal. The experimental design was laid out in a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments having three inclusion levels of UCRM (0, 100 and 200 g/kg) with or without 6 g/kg charcoal supplementation. Each treatment consisted of 80 birds replicated eight times with 10 birds per replicate. Main effect of inclusion level of UCRM and supplementation of charcoal showed reduced (p < 0.05) final live weight, weight gain, feed intake and apparent crude protein digestibility of the birds with increasing inclusion levels of UCRM. Birds fed diets supplemented with charcoal showed higher (p < 0.05) final live weight, weight gain and feed intake than birds fed diets without charcoal. Supplementation of charcoal in diet containing 100 g/kg UCRM resulted in improved (p < 0.05) weight gain when compared with birds fed similar diet but not supplemented with charcoal. Broilers fed diet containing no UCRM but supplemented with charcoal had the highest overall (p < 0.05) final live weight and weight gain, while birds fed diet containing 200 g/kg UCRM supplemented with charcoal recorded the poorest (p < 0.05) final live weight and weight gain. Serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT) and serum thiocyanate concentration increased (p < 0.05) with increasing dietary inclusion levels of UCRM. Dietary supplementation of charcoal resulted in increased (p < 0.05) concentration of serum glucose and cholesterol and reduced (p < 0.05) SGOT concentration. Birds fed diets containing UCRM had high (p < 0.05) serum thiocyanate concentration irrespective of dietary supplementation or not with 6 g/kg charcoal. In conclusion, supplementation of diet containing up to 100 g/kg UCRM with 6 g/kg charcoal showed improved weight gain without any deleterious effect on serum metabolites.

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Due to scarcity and high cost of conventional feedstuffs, there is a renewed interest in the use of non-conventional cheap and easily available feedstuffs on ducks feeding. This study was conducted to evaluate health status of ducks fed fermented cassava root-leaf meal blend as a replacement for maize. One hundred and fifty, one day- old unsexed Mallard ducklings were used for the experiment. Ducklings were randomly distributed into 5 groups of 30 ducklings per treatment. Each treatment was further subdivided into 3 replicates with 10 ducklings per replicate in a completely randomized design (CRD). The study is made up of 5 dietary treatments consisting of the control (Treatment 1), fermented cassava root-leaf blend used to replace maize at 25% (Treatment 2), 50% (Treatment 3), 75% (Treatment 4) and 100% (Treatment 5) levels respectively. The packed cell volume (26.50-38.33%) and haemoglobin (9.35-14.07g/dl) levels increased as Fermented cassava root-leaf meal (FCRLM) inclusion increased in the diet (0-75%). Uric acid values decreased (5.30-4,27mg/dl) as well as cholesterol values (91.70-56.70mg/dl) as level of (FCRLM) increased in diet. The results obtained showed that FCRLM at (300:1000 ratio) of leaf to root could replace maize at 50% inclusion level without any detrimental effects on health status of ducks.

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