The Effect of Cassava Chips, Pellets, Pulp and Maize Based Diets on Performance, Digestion and Metabolism of Nutrients for Broilers

Abstract

A 21 days feeding trial was carried out with 160 Cobb male broilers to compare the effect of diets containing maize, Cassava Chips (CC), Cassava Pellets (CP) and Cassava Residue pulp (CR) on growth performance and digestive parameters of broilers. Four experimental diets with isocaloric and isonitrogenous were formulated to make the same nutrition level of them. The results revealed that feed intake to 14 or 21 days was higher (p<O.05) on the diets containing CP than on the other cassava products but similar to maize diet. Body weight, viscosity of the ileal digesta, digestibility of non starch polysaccharides, crude protein and dry matter as well as energy utilization, concentrations of lactic, succinic and total short chain fat acid in ileal were generally lower on diets containing the CC, CP and CR than on the diet containing maize with weight of birds on the CP being the lowest (p<0.05) over the 21 days grovvth period. However, the relative weight of the gizzard and small intestine at both 7 and 21 days of age was increased (p<0.05) on diets containing the cassava products while the weight of the bursa was reduced. Feed/Gain ratio over day 1-14 or 21 days was better (p<O.Ol) on the maize based diets than on the CC and CR based diets The concentrations of vale ric, lactic and succinic acids in the caeca were lower (p<0.05) in chickens on the cassava containing diets than on the maize containing diet but the reverse was the case for formic, acetic and butyric acids.