No abstract

The consumer price for poultry products in Nigeria and the expansion of the commercial poultry industry are negatively affected by the utilization of competitive and costly ingredients in making poultry diets. Consequently, the identification and utilization of locally available alternatives would greatly reduce cost of poultry production and products. In this regard, a study was undertaken to examine the effects of replacement of yellow maize (YM) with gayamba pearl millet variety as dietary energy source on carcass yield and blood parameters of broiler chickens. Three hundred (300) Ross 308 broiler chicks weighing 167.94 – 173.07g were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments of 75 birds each. Each treatment was replicated thrice with 25 birds in a completely randomized design. The experimental diets contained 0, 33.33, 66.67 and 100% gayamba millet as replacement for YM designated as diets 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. Full-fat soya bean and groundnut cake meal were the main vegetable protein sources used in the diets. Feed and water were provided ad libitum and the experiment lasted for 49 days. Results for carcass yield indicated a significant (P<0.05) influence of diet on live weight (1828.33 – 2316.66 g), plucked weight (1622.83 – 2132.83 g), eviscerated weight (1429.50 – 1883.47 g) and carcass weight (1277.66 – 1680.33 g) in favour of diet 3. However, dressing percentage (69.00 – 72.50%) did not differ among treatments. In the same way, most of the relative weights of organs were also not significantly affected by diet. Except for the packed cell volume (29.81 – 35.04%), none of the haematological parameters showed significant difference among the treatments. Similarly, most of the serum biochemical indices apart from total proteins, albumin and globulin, did not differ significantly among treatments. It was therefore concluded that gayamba pearl millet can completely replace yellow maize in broiler chickens' diets with no adverse effect on carcass yield and blood constituents.

A 90-days feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of replacing fertilizer grade urea with cattle urine in sorghum stover silage on the performance and haematological indices of Balami rams. Five diets were formulated. Diet 1 (control) contained sorghum stover ensiled with fertilizer grade urea (FGU) while diets 2, 3, 4 and 5 had 25, 50, 75 and 100% levels of cattle urine as replacement for FGU. Twenty (20) rams of the Balami breed were allotted to the five diets in replicates of four in a completely randomized design. Data on daily feed intake, weight gain and haematological indices were collected Results showed no significant influence of cattle urine on daily feed intake. However, Daily weight gain was significantly (P<0.05) higher on T5 (128.11 g) and T4 (124.08 g) which were the same, than on other diets which also did not differ (101.67 – 103.65 g). Similarly, Rams fed T5 (34.53 kg) had higher (P<0.05) final weight than those on other diets which were the same (30.30 – 31.93 kg). Feed conversion ratio was significantly (P<0.05) better on T5 (5.74) and T4 (5.88) compared to T1 (7.19), T2 (7.13) and T3 (7.06) which were poorer. All haematological indices did not significantly differ among diets. It was therefore concluded that cattle urine can completely replace fertilizer grade urea as silage additive in sorghum stover and as non-protein nitrogen source in balami rams diets.