Dietary evaluation of starter broiler chicks fed cooked cocoyam tuber meal (<i>Xanthosoma sagitifolium</i>) as energy source in place of maize

Abstract

Considering the inherent attributes of tannia cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagitifolium) its appropriate utilization may enhance performance of starter  broiler chicks. This study was therefore carried out to determine the dietary evaluation of starter broiler chicks fed cooked cocoyam tuber meal as energy source in place of maize. The cooked cocoyam tuber meal was used to replace maize at various levels of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%  respectively for diets 2, 3, 4 and 5 to determine the best replacement level that would give optimal performance in starter broiler chicks' diets. Result of the proximate composition of cooked cocoyam tuber meal showed that it contained 13.11% moisture, 2.60% ash, 1.85% ether extract,  3.90% crude protein, 9.45% crude fibre, 70.13% nitrogen free extract and 3004.37 Kcal/kgME. 150 day old Anak broiler chicks were used for the experiment. They were divided into 5 treatment groups of 30 broiler chicks each. Each treatment group was subdivided into 3 replicates of 10 broiler chicks each and kept in deep litter. Each starter diet was fed to a group of 30 starter broilers for 4 weeks using completely randomized design. They  were given feed and water adlibitum. Parameters measured include initial body weight, final body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and economics of production. In the starter broiler feeding trial, the starter broilers on 25% cooked cocoyam meal compared  favourably with the control (P > 0.05) in terms of feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio and significantly (P > 0.05) performed between than those on 100% CCYM. The cost of production (N/Kg broiler) was however cheapest for diet 2 (25% CCYM) N395 versus control diet (N494.28). It was therefore concluded that cooked cocoyam tuber meal (Xanthosoma sagitifolium) could be used in the diets of starter broiler  chicks' up to 25% without affecting the body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio as indicated in this study.

Keywords: Dietary, evaluation, cooked cocoyam, energy source, broiler starter chicks.