Nutrient digestibility of diets supplemented with fermented cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz.) tuber meal fed to broilers

Abstract

The nutrient digestibility of diets in which maize was supplemented with graded levels of fermented cassava tuber meal (FCTM) was evaluated in a digestibility trial. 360 broilers in six treatments and three replicates were raised in deep litter for eight weeks and samples were collected over a 5-day period on week 8. The diets were CTRL, a maize based diet with no additives, AGP was CTRL but the birds were given oxytetracycline 25% in their drinking water. FCTM25, FCTM50, FCTM75 and FCTM100 were CTRL with the maize component replaced at 25, 50, 75 and 100% respectively. Both feed and faecal samples were subjected to proximate analysis to determine percentage nutrient digestibility. Nutrient digestibility
increased (P<0.05) for all parameters from CTRL to FCTM100 except NFE. AGP and FCTM25 had the best (P<0.05) digestibility for NFE. Diet groups with 25% replacement of maize with FCTM, and those treated with oxytetracycline 25% had better (P<0.05) nutrient digestibility than other treatments. For all parameters, nutrient digestibility increased proportionally to dietary inclusion levels of FCTM. This shows that fermentation makes the feed more digestible and ipso facto increases nutrient availability. The diet with 75% of the maize replaced with FCTM had the best dry matter and so is recommended since it offers the least inclusion of maize and more fermented cassava. This enables the birds to take maximum advantage
of the benefits of fermentation for improved performance.