Profitability and utilization of crayfish waste meal in partial replacement of fishmeal in broiler finisher diet

Abstract

The prevailing high cost of fishmeal and its scarcity poses a great threat to the protein needs of broiler chickens and in deed the entire poultry and livestock sector. Every part of fish is consumed including the fish waste. They are carefully ground and incorporated into soup and other food products making it scarce and expensive. Therefore, it became necessary to source for alternatives to replace fishmeal hence this study investigated the profitability and utilization of crayfish waste meal in broiler finisher diet on the growth performance, hematological and biochemical indices and the impact on cost and returns. Sixty (60) 4-weeks old broiler chicks were used for the purpose of the study. They were randomly allotted to four treatment groups, each having three replicates of 5 birds. The chickens were reared in deep litter pens and fed four treatment diets designated as T1 (control) without crayfish waste meal, T2 (1% crayfish waste meal), T3 (2% crayfish waste meal) and T4 (3% crayfish waste meal). The feeding trial lasted for 28 days. The average daily weight gain, average daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio did not show any significant treatment p>0.05 effect. The hematological indices revealed that at T4 (3.00% crayfish waste meal), the haemoglobin, red blood cell, mean cell volume, mean cell haemoglobin concentration and clotting time were significantly increased p<0.05 compared to the control, T1 (0.00% crayfish waste meal). Biochemical indices showed that total proteins, globulins, creatinine and urea were significantly increased at T4 (3.00% crayfish waste meal) compared to the control, T1 (0.00% crayfish waste meal). Cost and returns analysis showed that cost per kg weight gain and cost of feed consumed were
reduced considerably at T4 (3.00% crayfish waste meal) with higher revenue and profit margin compared to the control, T1 (0.00% crayfish waste meal). It was therefore concluded that inclusion of crayfish waste meal to broiler finisher diet at 3.00% level reduced cost of feed consumed, gave higher revenue and gross margin profit without having any deleterious effect on performance and blood profile of the birds.