DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE

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    Effect of ammonium sulphate fortification on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen balance of West African dwarf rams
    (2016) Akinlade, A. T.; Ososanya, T. O.
    Ammonium sulphate (NH(4)2SO(4) is potential source of readily available nitrogen and sulphur which would fill the gap in feed availability to ruminants during the extended annual dry season. Hence, the use of ammonium sulphate becomes a viable alternative to growth-promoting antibiotics due to their effectiveness on ruminant productivity. Therefore, the effect of various inclusion levels of ammonium sulphate on the performance of West African Dwarf (WAD) rams was examined. Sixteen rams weighing 12.8±0.1-2 kg were assigned to four experimental diets containing 0.00, 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75% levels of ammonium sulphate designated as Tl, T2, T3 and T4 respectively. In a completely randomized design, each rams were fed at 5% of their body weight at 60:40 levels of experimental diet and wilted guinea grass as basal diet. The growth trial lasted for 105 days. The chemical composition of the experimental feed and faecal samples were analyzed, and data on total voluntary feed intake, feed conversion ratio, weight gain, nitrogen utilization, and apparent digestibility were also collected. The parameters on proximate composition of the feed were significantly affected by the inclusion of (NH(4)2SO(4) except for DM, GE, Calcium (Ca) and Phosphorus (P). The values for the parameters increased with increased inclusion of (NH(4)2SO(4). The dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) obtained ranged from 94.15 - 94.69% and 11.00 - 13.40% respectively while the levels of sulphur was between 4.13 - 4.85%. Live weight gain increased with increased inclusion of (NH(4)2SO(4) and ranged from 3.50 - 5.00 kg but did not differ significantly (P>0.05) from each other. The total voluntary feed intake (TVFI) obtained in this study ranged between 59.79 - 62.64 kg and feed conversion ratio (FCR) from 11.96 - 17.90. However, TVFI and FCR decreased with increasing levels of (NH(4)2SO(4) in the diet. Also, acid detergent lignin digestibility was significantly (P<0.05) affected by inclusion levels of ((NH(4)2SO(4) in the treatments. Nitrogen in feed (3.39g/day), faecal nitrogen output (2.62g/day), urinary nitrogen output (0.21g/day) and nitrogen retention (0.56g/day) were insignificantly (P>0.05) difference except percentage nitrogen retained (16.52g/day) which is significantly different (P<0.05) from each other. It is evident that rams on 0.75% ammonium sulphate supplementation had better growth performance, improved nutrient digestibility and nitrogen metabolism, hence substantiating its utilization in ram diet.
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    Growth and carcass characteristics of finishing broilers on acidified blood meal based diet
    (2013-01) Abu, O. A.; Ogunwole, O. A.; Adedeji, B. S.; Adeboboye, A. V. K.; Tewe, O. O.
    The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of inclusion of acidifer in a blood meal based diet on broiler performance and carcass characteristics. One hundred and eighty un-sexed 4-week old broiler chicks raised on a common Starter diet were randomly distributed into four experimental diets of 3 replicates and fifteen birds per replicate consisting of a control diet devoid of blood meal and acidifier (T1). Birds on treatment 2 (T2), in addition to common ingredients, had blood meal and acidifier; birds on treatment 3 (T3) had blood meal without acidifer and birds on treatment 4 (T4) had acidifier without blood meal. The birds were fed respective diets and watered ad libitum for four weeks. Daily feed intake was not significantly (p> 0.05) affected by dietary treatment. However, birds on treatment 3 had the poorest average daily body weight gain and feed conversion ratio. The addition of acidifier to diet containing blood meal however alleviated depressed daily body weight. The final body weights were 1.78, 1.74, 1.53 and 1.71 kg for birds on diets 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Carcass yield expressed in percent live body weight were not significantly (p< 0.05) affected. The inclusion of blood meal in the diet without the addition of acidifier caused a mortality of 22% in the chickens and that addition of acidifier at 0.3% improved the growth performance and livability of chickens.
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    Nutrient utilisation and growth performance of rabbits fed diets based on maize, cassava or their by-products
    (Taylor & Francis, 1998) Onifade, A. A.; Abu, O. A.; Akande, O. N.; Abanikannda, O. T. F.
    A 70-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate nutrient intake, digestibility and growth characteristics of rabbits fed maize grain (mg), maize offal (mo), cassava tuber (ct) or cassava peel (cp) based diets. The four test ingredients were included at 30.84% in diets supplying 17% crude protein. The consumption of dry matter, crude protein and crude fibre were higher (P4.05) in mo and cp based diets, while apparent digestibilities were better (Pc0.05) in rabbits fed mg and ct based diets. Rabbits fed mo attained the highest (P<0.05) body weight gain, followed by those fed mg and ct and the group fed cp gained the least. Feed consumption was higher (P<0.05) in rabbits fed cp and mo than mg and ct diets; and the gain: feed ratio was the reverse of the feed intake. It is concluded that mo and ct are effective substitutes for mg, however, diets based on cp would require nutrient supplementation.