Egg laying response of Arco black hen to garri chaff and cassava peel based diets

Abstract

The need to optimize the utilization of garri processing by-products and improve the protein availability through egg production motivated this study. 165 Acro Black laying hen of 41 weeks old were grouped into five dietary treatments of 35 birds per treatment and five replicates of seven birds each. Layers' diets were compounded at 0%, 11.25%, 22.5%, 33.5% and 45% of garri chaff and 0%, 3.575%, 7.15%, 10.275% and 14.3% of sun dried cassava peel levels of inclusion. The diets and groups of birds were labelled A, B, C, D and E and the birds were fed with their corresponding diets for 6 consecutive weeks. Records of feed consumption and number of eggs laid were taken daily throughout the period of experimentation. The results showed that egg laying performance was of the order C>D>A>B>E among the dietary treatments. While egg laying performance hovered around 60% in the control treatment A, it increased from 57% to 86% in group C. Birds in treatment E had the least feed consumption and least egg laying performance. Weight increase of the birds at the end of the experimentation were of the order A>B>D>C>E. It was thus concluded that garri chaff and cassava peel appeared useful as ingredients in layers' diets at about equal quantity with maize and wheat offal, respectively but the feed should be adequately fortified with protein rich feedstuffs and the diets must be introduced early to avoid rejection by the birds.