Adejoro F.A., Ijadunola T.I., Odetola O.M., Omoniyi B.A.
Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Ikole Campus, Nigeria; Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Ibadan, Nigeria
Adejoro, F.A., Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Ikole Campus, Nigeria; Ijadunola, T.I., Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Ibadan, Nigeria; Odetola, O.M., Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Ibadan, Nigeria; Omoniyi, B.A., Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Ikole Campus, Nigeria
This study was carried out to determine the performance of broilers fed diets containing wild cocoyam meal (WCM) using sun drying, soaking or cooking as processing methods to improve its nutritive value as a replacement for maize in broiler diets. Seven experimental diets were formulated with diet 1 (control) containing 0% WCM, while diets 2 to 7 contained sun dried (Su), soaked (So) or cooked (Co) wild cocoyam meal each at 10% and 20% inclusion levels respectively. Two hundred and fifty two (252) one-day old broiler chicks sourced from a commercial hatchery were allocated into 7 treatments of 12 birds in 3 replicates in a completely randomised design and dietary treatment lasting 56days. Soaking and cooking significantly reduced the anti-nutritional factors in wild cocoyam meal better than sun drying. Final body weight, average weight gain and average daily weight gain were significantly different (P<0.05) among the treatments. Control, So10, Co10 and Co20 showed better utilisation of feed than Su10, Su20 and So20. However, total feed consumption and average daily feed intake were not significantly different among the treatments. There were no significant differences in the overall carcass characteristics between the control diets and the varying levels of inclusion. It can be concluded that soaking and cooking were adequate to remove toxic phytochemicals in wild cocoyam meal to tolerable levels for broiler diets and inclusion up to 20% is advisable. At this level, growth and carcass characteristics were not significantly affected compared to the control diet. However, sun drying may be used as a treatment method when inclusion level is limited to 10% of total ration.