Nutritional evaluation of fermented cocoyam tuber meal (Xanthosoma sagitifolium ) as energy source in place of maize in starter broiler production

Considering the inherent attributes of cocoyam tuber meal (Xanthosoma Sagitifolium), its appropriate utilization for chicken diets may enhance performance of broiler chicken. This studywas therefore carried out to determine the nutritional evaluation of fermented cocoyam tuber meal as energy source in the diets of starter broilers production. The fermented cocoyam was used to replace maize at various levels to determine the best replacement would give optimal performance in starter broilers diets. One hundred and fifty 150 day old Agrited starter broilers were used for this experiment,. The proximate composition of fermented cocoyam tuber meal (FCYM) showed that it contained 19.5% moisture, 1.30% ash, 3.56% Crude protein, 5.30% crude fibre, 1.9% ether extract and 25.48% NFE. In the starter feeding trial, the fermented cocoyam was used to replace maize at levels of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% respectively in the control diet. Each starter diet was fed to a group of 30 broilers chicks for four weeks using completely randomized design. Each treatment was divided into three replicates of 10 broiler chicks each. Parameters measured include initial body weight, final body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and cost of production. In the starter feeding trial, the starter broilers on 25% FCYM compared favorably with those on the control diet (P>0.05) in terms of feed intake, feed conversion ratio and body weight gain and hence recorded the higher body weight gain. The cost per kg feed produced was N182.50 for the control diet and the lowest was diet 5 (100% FCYM) which was N82.74. The cost of production (cost/kg feed x feed conversion ratio) of starter broilers per kg body weight gain was lowest for diet 5 (100% FCYM) (N158.86), while the costliest was those on the control diet (N383.25). The results of the trial have shown that fermentation of cocoyam tuber meal for 4 days for formulating starter broiler diets was quite an effective method of processing because fermentation reduced the anti-nutrients content. It was concluded that fermented cocoyam tuber meal could be used in the diets of starter broilers up to 25% without affecting body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio as indicated in this study.