Performance, carcass and blood indices of broiler chickens fed graded levels of sundried raw wild cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) corms as partial substitutes for maize

Abstract

The suitability of graded levels of sun-dried raw wild cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) corms as partial replacement for maize in the diet of finishing broiler chickens was carried out in a feeding trial that lasted for four weeks. One hundred and twenty (120) four weeks old broilers were used. . The birds were assigned into four dietary treatments of three replicates each. The experiment was carried out using the completely randomized design. Each diet represented a treatment. Diet 1 as the control treatment was devoid of the test ingredient. The remaining three (3) diets were formulated on 10, 20 and 30% substitution levels of raw wild cocoyam corms for maize on a weight for weight basis. The diets and clean drinking water were provided ad libitum throughout the period of the study. Data were collected on performance, carcass, haematology, serum metabolites, and economy of production. Results revealed that the weight gain, feed conversion ratio, cost per kilogramme feed and carcass characteristics were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the dietary treatments. Among the serum metabolites and haematological parameters monitored, only cholesterol was significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the graded levels of the test ingredients in the diets. It was concluded that maize can be replaced with 20% of raw wild cocoyam corms without deleterious effects on performance, carcass, serum biochemistry and haematology of broiler chickens.