Performance and Cost Implication of Feeding Broilers with Cornflakes Waste Based Diet

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1 Performance and Cost Implication of Feeding Broilers with Cornflakes Waste Based Diet S.S.A. Egena and V.E. Aya Department of Animal Production, Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger State, Nigeria Abstract The effect of replacing maize with cornflakes waste and the cost implication of such a replacement was investigated in 150 ANAK 2000 breed broilers for nine weeks. Maize was substituted at 0%, 20%, 40%, 60% and 100% levels representing 0%, 10.57%, 21.14%, 31.71% and 54% of cornflakes waste respectively. The experimental design used was the complete randomized design. Analysis showed that the treatment had a pronounced effect (P<0.05) on body weight at the starter phase of the experiment while feed intake, weight gain and feed: gain ratio were not affected (P>0.05). a difference (P<0.05) was also observed for feed intake and feed: gain ratio at the finisher phase but body eight and weight gain showed no effect (P>0.05). The cost/kg of meat produced significantly affected (P<0.05) as well as feed cost and cost of feed intake. These results show that cornflakes waste has an effect n the performance of broilers and the cost of feeding the birds. It can therefore effectively be used as a substitute for maize in broiler diet. Keywords: Performance, cornflakes waste, broilers, cost, maize. Introduction There is a rapid increase in world population coupled with a decrease in cereal production especially in developing countries. This has created a great competition between man and animals for food especially grains such as maize, Sorghum and wheat which are sources of energy for both man and livestock. This competition means that raising poultry birds will demand a greater monetary input from farmers with most of it going into feeding. This cost of feeding was estimated to be about 70% of the total cot of raising birds to market weight (Ogunfoworola 1984; Oluyemi 1984). The growing fluctuation in feed cost and price of poultry meat as a result of the rising cost of conventional feed ingredients has therefore led to the search for alternative sources of feed ingredients particularly those energy and protein origin. Maize is one of the most widely used energy yielding ingredient in poultry nutrition (Benitez et al. 1999) and it is also very expensive. In order to reduce the cost of raising birds, alternatives must be sought which can effectively replace maize especially in energy. Cornflakes waste is one of such product. Cornflakes according to Asiedu (1989) is a hydrothemically treated maize product of worldwide popularity. It is high in nutrient value and with good digestibility. Cornflakes have an energy value as high as that of maize with moderate digestible fat content (Castberg and Kampen 1990). It is with this in mind that the authors set out to investigate the effect of replacing maize with cornflakes waste in broiler diets as well as the cost implication of the replacement. Materials and Methods Cornflakes waste was used in formulating five diets. It was used to replace maize at 0%, 20%, 40%, 60% and 100% levels 232

2 representing 0%, 10.57%, 21.14%, 31.71% and 54% of cornflakes waste respectively (Table 1). The diets were isocaloric and isonitrogenous. One hundred and fifty day old chicks of the ANAK 2000 breed were used for the experiment. That means 30 birds/treatment and 10 bird/replicate. The necessary sanitary precautions were observed which includes daily cleaning of the feeders and drinkers. Wood shavings were used as bedding material and the house was electrically heated using 200watt bulbs. The chicks were weighed on arrival in groups and randomly allotted to the five treatment groups of three replicates in a complete randomized design (CRD). Feed and water were given ad libitum. All the necessary preventive medication and vaccinations were provided and administered at the appropriate time schedule. experimental diets and the test material (cornflakes waste) were analyzed using the method of (AOAC 1995). Parameters measured include: mean body weight, mean body weight gain, mean feed intake and mean feed: gain ratio. Equally, the cost: benefit ratio of the replacement of maize with cornflakes waste was evaluated. All data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using (Minitab 1993). The treatment means were separated using (Duncan 1955) where there were significant differences (P<0.05). Results and Discussion experimental diets and the test material are presented in Table 2 and Table 3 respectively. The mean body weight, mean feed intake, mean body weight gain and mean feed: gain ratio of the experimental birds for both the starter and finisher phases of the experiment are presented in Table 4. The cost implication of replacing maize with cornflakes waste in broiler diets is presented in Table 5. experimental diet did not vary significantly as a result of the inclusion of the cornflakes waste at the different levels. It indicates a near perfect constant value in dry matter, nitrogen free extract, crude protein, crude fibre, and ash. This was basically because the diets were isocaloric and isonitrogenous. The values of the nutrients in the diets fall within the range recommended by Aduku (1992) and Oluyemi and Roberts (2000). The chemical composition of cornflakes waste (Table 3) shows that it is high in nitrogen free extract, low in protein and relatively low in oil, ash and crude fibre. The trend is similar to that reported for maize grain (West et el. 1988). Cornflakes waste like maize is starchy and low in protein, minerals and oil. The mean body weight was significantly affected (P<0.05) as a result of the inclusion of cornflakes waste in the diet at the starter phase (Table 4). Birds fed 60% cornflakes waste had significantly higher body weight than the control and the 100% cornflakes waste diet. This is an indication that nutrient utilization was better when maize and cornflakes waste were fed together to the birds (T 2, T 3 and T 4 ) than when fed separately (T 1 and T 5 ). This finding upholds the report of Sibbald (1975) about the associative effect of feed. No significant effect (P>0.05) was observed at the finisher phase as a result of the replacement of maize with cornflakes waste in the diet. This is an indication that the birds showed compensatory growth as the experiment approached its completion. The final body weights of the birds were similar statistically at the end of the trial and compares well with values reported for broilers by Ayanwale (1999). Feed intake did not show any significant difference (P>0.05) as a result of the feeding of cornflakes waste at the starter phase of the experiment (Table 4). This might be because the diet met the nutrient requirements of the birds (for protein and energy) at that phase. The situation was however different at the finisher phase where birds fed 60% cornflakes waste consumed more feed (P<0.05) than those fed the control. 233

3 Table 1. Composition of experimental diets Ingredient T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 T 5 Maize * Cornflakes waste = Soyabean meal Rice offal Fish meal Palm oil Bone meal Oyster meal Methionine Lysine Salt Premix Total %CP Energy (Kcal/Kg) * = No value. Table 2. Proximate composition of experimental diets Components T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 T 5 Moisture Dry matter Crude protein Ether extract Ash Crude fibre Nitrogen free extract Table 3. Composition of cornflakes waste Component (%) Moisture 5.30 Dry matter Crude protein 6.74 Ether extract 3.80 Ash 0.14 Crude fibre 2.74 Nitrogen free extract ME (Kcal/Kg) 3330 Table 4. Performance characteristics of broilers fed cornflakes waste based diets Parameter T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 T 5 SEM Starter phase Body weight (g) a ab b b a 78.5* Feed intake (g) ns Weight gain (g) ns Feed: gain ns Finisher phase Body weight (g) Feed intake (g) a ab ab b ab 20.03* Weight gain (g) ns Feed: gain 2.96 a 3.47 ab 4.14 b 3.90 ab 3.88 ab 0.16* 234

4 Table 5. Cost: benefit analysis Parameter T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 T 5 SEM Initial body weight (g) Final body weight (g) ns Body weight (g) ns Feed intake (g) ns Feed cost (N) c bc b b a 1.82* Cost of feed intake (N) c bc b b a 9.52* Cost/Kg meat (N) c c c b a 3.92* * Significant difference (P<0.05). Legend: ab: Means denoted by different alphabets in the same row are significantly different (P<0.05). ns: Not significant (P>0.05). SEM: standard error of mean. The high values of intake observed for birds fed diets composed of maize and cornflakes waste (T 2, T 3 and T 4 ) is an indication that their combination encouraged more feed intake than when maize was fed separately. Sibbald (1975) had earlier reported the associative effect of feeds on feed consumption in birds. The high intake values observed for birds fed 100% cornflakes waste compared to the control might be due to the fact that birds find the cornflakes waste more digestible. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) observed in weight gain at both the starter and finisher phases respectively (Table 4). The almost similar rate of gain at both phases of the experiment might be due to the level of energy and protein in the diet. The birds were able to meet their need for these nutrients and hence growth was enhanced. This shows that efficiency of gain is closely related to intake levels of nutrients especially protein and energy (Fashina- Bombata et al. 1994). The lower body weight gain noticed for birds fed 100% cornflakes waste diet at both the starter and finisher phases is an indication that cornflakes waste is better utilized when fed with maize or other cereal grain. Feed: gain ratio did not differ significantly (P>0.05) at the starter phase of the experiment (Table 4). This is an indication of the adequacy of nutrients in all the diets. The diets were able to meet the need of the birds. A significant effect (P<0.05) was however observed at the finisher phase. The value obtained for the birds fed 40% cornflakes waste diet might be due to the lower energy level of the diet which grossly affected its ability to meet up with the maintenance and growth requirement of the birds as the birds age. Cost: benefit analysis shows that feed cost (N), cost of feed intake (N) and cost/kg of meat (N) were all reduced (P<0.05) by the inclusion of cornflakes waste in the diet (Table 5). This might be due to the prevailing price of cornflakes waste (N 14.00) compared to that of maize (N 50.00) as at the time of the experiment. Increasing the level of cornflakes waste in the diet therefore led to a decrease in the cost of feed/kg. This equally translated to lower cost/kg meat in the birds fed 60% and 100% cornflakes waste respectively. Conclusion This study showed that performance characteristics as well as cost of raising birds are affected by the replacement of maize with cornflakes waste in broiler diets. The study also showed that broiler birds were able to perform better when fed a combined diet of maize and cornflakes waste compared to when cornflakes wastes is fed alone. Equally, the cost implication of the replacement is least when cornflakes waste was fed alone. It was concluded that comparable performance of broilers could be obtained when maize is replaced with cornflakes waste at all levels of inclusion. 235

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