Assessment of the nutritive value of fermented cassava root leaf meal as a reflect on blood profile of ducks

Résumé

Due to scarcity and high cost of conventional feedstuffs, there is a renewed interest in the use of non-conventional cheap and easily available feedstuffs on ducks feeding. This study was conducted to evaluate health status of ducks fed fermented cassava root-leaf meal blend as a replacement for maize. One hundred and fifty, one day- old unsexed Mallard ducklings were used for the experiment. Ducklings were randomly distributed into 5 groups of 30 ducklings per treatment. Each treatment was further subdivided into 3 replicates with 10 ducklings per replicate in a completely randomized design (CRD). The study is made up of 5 dietary treatments consisting of the control (Treatment 1), fermented cassava root-leaf blend used to replace maize at 25% (Treatment 2), 50% (Treatment 3), 75% (Treatment 4) and 100% (Treatment 5) levels respectively. The packed cell volume (26.50-38.33%) and haemoglobin (9.35-14.07g/dl) levels increased as Fermented cassava root-leaf meal (FCRLM) inclusion increased in the diet (0-75%). Uric acid values decreased (5.30-4,27mg/dl) as well as cholesterol values (91.70-56.70mg/dl) as level of (FCRLM) increased in diet. The results obtained showed that FCRLM at (300:1000 ratio) of leaf to root could replace maize at 50% inclusion level without any detrimental effects on health status of ducks.