Performance and economic evaluation of broiler chickens fed two cultivars of cassava.

Abstract

Two hundred and seventy broiler chickens were fed a sorghum-soybean meal control diet and two cassavas soybean meal based test diets separately. The two cassava cultivars were the local white (LWCC) and local yellow (LYCC) cultivars. At weekly intervals and at slaughter age physical traits and economic performances of the birds were measured. Birds’ fed the sorghum-soybean meal control diet performed better than the groups fed the two cassava cultivar based diets for live weight, feed conversion and weight gain There were no significant differences between both cassava cultivars for the traits measured. Similarly, differences in chemical composition between the local white and local yellow cassava cultivars had no effect on all the production traits. However, taking into account the yield potentials of both cassava cultivars per hectare it can be calculated that the white cultivar would supply the feed requirements for 52% more broiler chickens than the yellow cultivar. The complete replacement of sorghum with either cassava cultivar did not impair broiler performance in terms of livability and feed intake. This observation is of significance to broiler producers involved in the production of their feed, and also as a marketing strategy for cassava farmers.