Two separate experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of incorporating levels of Brassica oleracea outer leaves and Musa paradisiaca leaves on sensory characteristics of rabbit meat. In each experiment, forty-eight (48) eight-week-old rabbits were randomly allotted to four treatments of concentrate diets with 0, 10, 20 and 30% inclusion levels of Brassica oleracea outer leaves and Musa paradisiaca leaves. Six rabbits were randomly selected from each treatment group and used for sensory evaluation at the end of a 12-week feeding period. Muscle samples were collected from the longissimus dorsi of the carcasses, pan-fried using 300 ml of Frytol® vegetable oil at 170ºC for 10 minutes. Thirty evaluators conducted the sensory evaluation according to the consumer acceptance and preference testing technique on a nine-point hedonic scale comprising appearance, flavour, colour, mouth-feel, taste, texture and overall acceptability. Generally, the sensory characteristic scores for the meat samples support the evaluators’ acceptability of the meat from rabbits fed the various diets. However, in specific terms, meat from rabbits fed diets containing 10 and 30% Brassica oleracea outer leaves and 20% Musa paradisiaca leaves tended to have higher sensory scores over meat from rabbits fed diets of the other inclusion levels of the leaves in the sensory attributes measured. The results of the study also suggest that feeding concentrate diets containing Brassica oleracea outer leaves and Musa paradisiaca leaves at 30% inclusion level resulted in the production of rabbit meat at a lower cost than feeding concentrate diets alone and acceptable to consumers.

A 16-week study was conducted to evaluate the effects of replacing fish meal with hatchery waste meal (HWM) on growth performance and carcass characteristics of grower-finisher pigs. Sixty (60) Large White grower intact male pigs at an average liveweight of 17.55 ± 0.1 kg were randomly allotted in equal numbers to 5 dietary treatments designated as 0% HWM, 2.5% HWM, 5.0% HWM, 7.5% HWM and 10.0% HWM. The diets were formulated to be iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous. The pigs were fed on restricted basis at 5% of the group body weight and had free access to water. Whereas ADG by the grower- finisher pigs were best on HWM 0%, HWM 2.5% and HWM 5%, FCR and day to slaughter were best on HWM 2.5%. The data revealed that feeding HWM 7.5% (210.49 kg) and HWM 10% (210.92) resulted in significantly (p < 0.05) higher total feed intake (TFI) compared to those fed 0% HWM (175.12 kg), 2.5 % HWM (172.87 kg) and 5.0 % HWM (190.49 kg). Inclusion of HWM up to 10%did not affect any of the carcass parameters measured. From the results of the study, it can be inferred that HWM could be included in pig diets up to 5% without any adverse effects on growth performance and carcass evaluation.