Substitution of maize grain with cassava tuber on hen layer performance and egg quality

Berihun Kibret, Solomon Demeke¹ and Abegaze Beyene¹

Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture, Mekdela Amba University, P O Box32, Mekdela, Ethiopia
Berihun2947@gmail.com
¹ Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture, Jimma University, P O Box 307, Jimma, Ethiopia

Abstract

In Ethiopia, availability and high market price of maize (cereals) warrants the search for an alternative non-conventional feed resources for poultry feeding. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of substitution of maize with cassava tuber meal as source of energy on the production performance and economic benefits of Bovan Brown layers in Jimma. Five treatment rations containing 0%(CR0),25%(CR25),50%(CR50), 75%(CR75) and 100%(CR100) sundried cassava tuber meal (CTM) as a substitute for maize were studied using 120 cage layers in completely randomized design with 3 replicates for a period of 12 weeks. All the treatments were formulated to contain 2800-2900Mecal/kg of energy and 16-17% of crude proteins. The birds were given known amount of feed and water ad libitum throughout the experimental period. Finally all the data collected were subjected to analysis of variance. The results of the chemical analysis obtained showed that, the crude protein (CP) and metabolizable energy contents of cassava tuber meal was 1.93% and 3552.65 kcal/kg DM, respectively. There was significant (P<0.05) decrease in mean daily feed consumption with inclusion of high level of cassava tuber meal (50-100%) as substitute for maize energy. Mean daily body weight gain (g/bird) was negative for all the treatment groups except for the groups fed on the treatment rations containing 50 and 75% of cassava tuber meal as substitute for maize energy, the values of which were significantly higher than the others (P<0.05).There was increase in the amount of feed consumed to produce a gram of egg (FCR) with an increased level of inclusion of cassava tuber meal except for the t groups fed on the treatment containing 50% cassava tuber meal as substitute of maize energy. However, there was no significant difference (P>0.05) between all the treatment groups in rate of egg production as measured by percentage of hen-day egg production which ranged between 53% and 57% showing that all the treatments are comparable in terms of rate of egg production. In summary the results of this study tends to indicate that sundried cassava tuber meal could safely and economically replace maize in poultry ration without adversely affecting laying performance in areas dominated by roots and tuber production.

Key word: cassava root meal, feed and laying performance

Introduction

In the modern poultry sub-sector feed cost account for about 70-75% of the cost of production attributed to feed shortage and stiff competition for scarce concentrate feed resources between human and poultry industries (Wilson, at el (2000) and Ethiopia is not exception to this situation. In Ethiopia, availability, quality and cost of feeds are the major constraints to modern commercial poultry production. Moreover, Ethiopia lacks self-sufficient in cereal grains, which form the bulk of concentrate feeds for poultry (Solomon Demeke, 2003). According to (Solomon Demeke, 2004). good quality feed ingredients and balanced diet are prerequisite for the initiation of modern poultry of improved breeds in the country. According to (Etalem et al 2012) the Ethiopian feed processing plants depend on maize, as source of energy concentrates in the formulation of poultry rations. However, availability and high market price of maize warrants the search for an alternative non-conventional feed resources. Cassava is one of locally available feed resource that deserves experimental study for inclusion in poultry feeding system.

Cassava (Manihot Esculenta Crantz) is perennial starchy root crop, widely grown in southern and central Ethiopia. The predominantly starchy tuberous roots of cassava are rich source of energy (Etalem et al 2012) and (Charles et al. 2005). According to (Smith, H., 2003) sun dried cassava peel and tuber meal could successfully be used in replacing maize in poultry diets. However, there are no adequate data on the feasibility of using cassava as substitutes for cereal grains in layer ration in Ethiopia. This being the case, the objective of this research was to study the effect of substitution of maize grain with cassava on the laying performance and egg quality of Bovan Brown breed of chickens in Jimma.

Materials and methods

Description of the study area

This experiment was conducted at poultry farm of Kito Furdisa Development Enterprise of Jimma University. The farm was located at7° 41‟ N latitude, 36o50‟ E longitude and elevation of 1750 meter above sea level (m.a.s.l.). The study site is located at 346 km south west of Addis Ababa. The mean annual rainfall of the farm site is 1250 mm and the mean minimum and maximum temperatures is 11 and 28^oC, respectively (IPMS , 2007).

Collection of experimental feed ingredients

The experimental treatment rations studied were formulated with the use of locally available feed ingredients consisting of maize grain, cassava tuber meal, wheat bran, noug seed cake, soybean meal, vitamin premix, salt and limestone. Maize, soybean meal, limestone and salt were purchased from Jimma market and wheat bran, noug seed cake, and vitamin premix were purchased from feed processing factories located in Addis Ababa (Kalti animal feed processing factory) and transported to the experimental site. Cassava tuber was collected from Ila Dale research site of Jimma University and transported to the experimental site. The cassava tuber was cleaned and chopped into small pieces. The chopped materials were sundried and grounded with the use of mill at Jimma university poultry feed processing unit.

Chemical analysis and treatment rations formulation

Representative samples were taken from each of the feed ingredients and grounded to pass through 1 mm sieve. The milled samples were stored in airtight containers until required for chemical analysis. Dry Matter (DM), Crude Protein (CP), Ether Extract (EE), Crude Fiber (CF) and total ash were determined according to (AOAC,1990).. Finally, the five treatment ration shown in Table 1 were formulated based on the result of the laboratory analytical data. Cassava was included to substitute 0.25, 50, 75 and 100% of the energy contributed by maize grains in CR0, CR25, CR50, CR75 and CR100 respectively. Representative samples were taken from each of the experimental treatment for chemical analysis for the adjustment of energy and protein contents in accordance to the requirement of the experimental layers. Noug seed cake, Soybean meal, wheat bran, limestone, vitamin premix and salt were added equally into all the treatments rations. Clean water was made available all the times.

Management of the experimental birds

A total of 150 pullets (20 weeks of age) of Bovan Brown breed of chicken were selected from the flock of Kito Furdisa Development Enterprise poultry farm. A total of 120 pullets were randomly selected (from the total of 150), individually weighted and divided into 5 groups of 24 pullets each with comparable mean group weight. Each group was further sub-divided into three groups of 8 pullets each (total of 15 groups each with 8 layers). Each group was housed in commercial cage equipped with individual pens well disinfected and cleaned in advance. Finally, the five treatment rations were randomly assigned to the experimental pullets in completely randomized design with 3 replications for study period of 90 days with one week adaptation period as shown in Table 2. The parameters used in measuring of the egg production performance of the experimental chickens included feed intake, body weight change, feed conversion ratio and rate of egg production.

Statistical analysis

All the data collected were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) in a completely randomized design using the general linear model procedure of statistical models for social science (SPSS version 16).When the analysis of variance indicated the existence of significant difference between the treatment means, least significance difference (LSD) method was used to locate the treatment means that was significantly different. The experimental model was:

Yij= μ + ti+ eij, where;

Yij= the response variable

μ= overall mean

ti = treatment effect (feed)

eij= error component

Result and discussion

Composition of the experimental cassava

The results of the laboratory chemical analysis of the different feed ingredients used in this experiment are presented in Table 3. The experimental diets were formulated to meet the minimum nutrient requirement of laying flocks (NRC, 1994).

The metabolizable energy content of the feed ingredients estimated by regression and summation equation showed that maize and cassava are rich in energy content for poultry feeding. The ME value (3988 Kcal/kg) of maize was relatively higher than that of cassava tuber meal (3553 Kcal/kg), the values of which make cassava an energy concentrate with relatively good potential substitute for maize in poultry ration. Noug seed cake and soybean contained 37 and 48% of crude proteins respectively, indicating that they are both good source of protein in poultry feeding when used in combination with cassava as source of energy concentrates. Moreover, Maize and wheat bran contained 13 and 15% of proteins. In the contrary, the protein content of cassava was significantly lower (1.93%) than all the other feed ingredients used (Table 2). The ME content of cassava tuber reported by (Wiseman (1987) and (Etalem et al 2012) is 3700 and 3852 Kcal./kg, respectively were higher than the value obtained from the present experimental study.

The CP content of the treatment rations used in the current study ranged between 16 and 17% recommended for laying stocks (NRC, 1994). Energy content was slightly higher than the recommended level of 2800 –2900 Kcal/Kg DM for layers (Mihret A., 2013). The CF content of the experimental diets ranged between 7 and 8% and slightly low in CR100, attributed to the increasing level of cassava tuber which in turn is very low in crude fiber.

Production performance

Feed consumption

The result of the mean daily dry matter consumption of the experimental birds is presented in the Table 5. The mean daily feed consumption of the experimental birds ranged from 90 to 105 g/h/d and is within the recommended level for the breed. The groups placed on the treatment ration containing 100% maize as source of energy (CR0) had the highest mean daily feed consumption of 105g/h/d), the value of which was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of the groups placed on the treatment ration containing 75 and 100% cassava as source of energy (Table 5). On the other side, there was no statistically significant difference between (P<0.05) the groups placed on the treatment diets containing 25 and 50% cassava tuber as substitute of maize energy in mean daily feed consumption. The results of this study showed that the mean daily feed consumption of the experimental birds decreased with increased level of inclusion of cassava tuber meals as substitute of maize energy into the ration.

Substitution of 75 and 100% of maize energy with that of dried cassava meal resulted in significantly (P<0.05) lower mean daily feed consumption than the others, without showing significant difference between each other (P>0.05).There was no significant difference between the treatment groups fed on maize based (100% maize) control treatment ration and the groups fed on the treatment ration containing 25-50% of cassava meal as substitute of maize energy in mean daily feed consumption, indicating the feasibility of inclusion of cassava in laying flock ration as substitute of up to 50% maize energy as measured by mean daily feed consumption. Significantly lower (P<0.05) mean daily feed consumption of of 90.63g/h/d was recorded for the treatment groups placed on the treatment ration containing 75% of cassava meal as substitute of maize energy, indicating that inclusion of > 50% of cassava as substitute of maize energy resulted in depression of feed intake.

The results of the current study was in agreement with that of (Mihret A., 2013) who reported that the feed intake of birds placed on high level of cassava tuber meal was significantly (P<0.05) lower than the others. It was reported that, feed intake significantly decreased as the level of cassava tuber meal increased and the birds placed on maize based ration consumed more feed than those placed on cassava based ration.

Body weight change

The results of the body weight change of the experimental birds are presented in Table 5. As shown in Table 5, there was statistically significance difference (P<0.05) between the treatment groups fed on the treatment ration containing different levels of cassava meal as substitute of maize energy in mean daily body weight gain and the final body weight attained. Mean final live body weight of 1.8kg/h was attained by the groups placed on the treatment rations containing 50 and 75% cassava tuber meal, as substitute of maize energy the values of which were significantly higher than the others (P<0.05). The groups fed on the treatments containing 50 and 75% cassava meal as substitute of maize energy experienced positive body weight gain ranging between 8.75 and 11.25 g over the entire study period of 90 days. There was no significant difference between the groups fed on these two treatment ration in body status. Inclusion of 100% dried cassava tuber meal brought negative mean body weight gain of -0.83 g over the study period of 90 days. Thus the results obtained tend to indicate that cassava meal could safely be included into layers ration up to 75% to substitute maize energy as measured by mean body weight gain. On the contrary Relatively (P<0.05) lower mean final live body weight of 1.6 kg/h was attained by the groups fed on the treatment ration containing 25% sundried cassava tuber meal as substitute of maize energy.

Negative mean body weight of -15 and -4.5g/h was experienced by the groups placed on the ration containing 0 and 25% of dried cassava tuber meal respectively.

Mean daily body weight gain of 8.8 and 11.3 g/h was calculated for the groups fed on the treatment rations containing relatively higher proportion (50 and 75%) of dried cassava tuber meal respectively, the values of which were significantly higher than that of others(P<0.05), without showing significant difference between each other’s. The results obtained showed a general tendency of increased daily body weight gain as the level of inclusion of cassava tuber meal increased. The relatively higher mean daily body weight gain brought by these two groups might be attributed to the relatively lower egg production performance compared to the others.

The results of the current study was contrary with that of (Sultana, et al. 2012) who reported that the daily body weight gain of the groups placed on 25% cassava tuber meal was significantly higher than those placed on the treatment ration containing 0, 50, 75 and 100% of cassava tuber meal. (Anaeto, M. and Adighibe, L.C. ,2011 ) reported that the average weight gain of layers receiving up to 50% cassava root meal was similar to those placed on the treatment ration containing 0% cassava tuber meal.

Based on the body weight performance of the experimental chickens, it was suggested that cassava tuber meal could actually replace maize up to 75% without adverse effect on the weight gain of the layers.

Egg production

The results of the rate of egg production of the experimental pullets are shown in Table 5. Based on the data of Table 5, There was no statistically significant difference between all the treatment groups in hen day egg production (P<0.05). Numerically, the groups fed on the treatment ration containing 50% dried cassava tuber meal and the treatment ration containing 25% dried cassava meal as substitute of maize energy tended to produce more eggs as expressed by hen day egg production. The egg production performance of the groups fed on the treatment ration containing 75% dried cassava tended to be poor in numerical value of egg production as measured by hen day egg production. The result of the current study, was contrary to that of (Mihret A., 2013) who showed that the mean number of eggs produced per bird, hen day egg production, hen housed egg production and egg mass were variable among the groups fed on different levels of cassava. According to (Mihret A., 2013) the replacement of maize by cassava root meal at equal proportion (50:50 ratios) did not significantly affect the hen-day egg production. However, inclusion of cassava root meal above 50% reduced egg production and egg weight. According to (Tesfaye, etal. 2013) feeding cassava peelings to layers at a level up to 27% of the diet improved egg production and feed conversion ratio. (NRC, 1994) reported that cassava root meal can be used as substitute for the rice or corn in conventional feed for poultry, provided that the cassava-based rations are balanced properly for all nutrients.

Feed conversion ratio

The results of the feed conversion ratio of the experimental pullets fed on the different levels of sundried cassava tuber meal is shown in Table 4. There was no significant difference between the treatment groups in feed conversion ratio (P>0.05). Considering numerical value the groups fed on the treatment ration containing 75 and 100 % of dried cassava tuber meal as substitute of maize energy were better in mean feed conversion ratio than the others. The result of the present study was similar to that of (Tesfaye, et al. 2013)who showed that there was improvement in feed conversion ratio of the experimental chickens with the inclusion of cassava tuber meal diets at 45% of the total diet as compared to the control groups.

Egg quality parameter

Egg weight and egg mass

The results of the egg weight and egg mass of the experimental layers are shown in Table 6. There was no significance (P>0.05) difference between all the treatment groups in mean egg weight and egg mass. This result agrees with that of (Aina and Fanimo 1997), who reported non- significant effect of replacing maize with cassava tuber meal on egg weight. The results of the present study also agree with that of (Okereke,2008) who reported non-significant differences (P>0.05) between the different treatment groups in egg weight, egg width, egg length, egg shape index and egg mass as a result of feeding cassava tuber meal as energy source.

The result of the current study was also similar to (Oludare, 2006), who reported that different dietary levels of cassava root meal showed no significant differences in respect of egg exterior qualities. (Mihret,2013) reported non-significant difference in egg weight between the treatments containing different level of cassava root meal. However, numerically layers fed on the treatment ration containing 50% cassava tuber meal had significantly higher (P<0.05) egg mass followed by the groups fed on 0% cassava than that of layers fed on 25, 75 and 100% cassava tuber meal, which could be attributed to the high percentage of egg production of the groups fed on 50% cassava as compared to the other treatment groups.

Shell, Albumen and Yolk weight

The results of the mean egg shell, albumen and yolk weight are presented in the Table 5. There was no significance difference (p<0.05) between all the treatment groups in shell and albumen weight. The mean yolk weight of all the treatment groups ranged between 16.6 and 17.47g. The mean yolk weight (17.47g) of the groups fed on CR75 (ration containing 75% cassava tuber meal) was significantly higher than that (16.6g) of the group fed on CR50 (ration containing 50% cassava tuber meal). With the exception of the groups fed on CR50, there was significant difference between all the treatment groups (P>0.05) in mean yolk weight. The results of this study was in agreement with the results reported by (Mihret,2013) who noted that there was no significant effects of substituting maize grain with peeled cassava tuber meal up to 100% as measured by mean shell, albumen and yolk weights. Similar finding was also reported by (Oladunjoye et al.2010), who indicated non-significant effect on shell, albumen and yolk weight in layers fed on diets containing different proportions (up to 80%) of sun dried cassava peel meal.

Yolk and Albumen height

There was no statistically significant difference (P>0.05) between all the treatment groups in mean albumen height. Relatively higher yolk height score ranging between 17.52 and 17.89 was recorded for eggs collected from the groups fed on 0, 25 and 100% cassava tuber meal. Mean yolk height ranging between 16.65 and 16.94 was recorded for eggs collected from the groups placed on 50-75% cassava tuber meal. The results of this experiment were in agreement with that of (Mihret,2013) who showed that there was no significant (P>0.05) difference on albumen height, yolk index and diameter among the eggs obtained from hens feed on diets containing different levels of sun dried cassava tuber meal as a substitute for maize. As documented by (Prosijektleder, 2007) albumen height is often used as a quality parameter to indicate that the egg is old or has been stored wrongly. A newly laid egg has an albumen height of 5 to 9 mm and Eggs stored for 7 days or more reduces part of the albumens stability to form a gel structure and therefore the height will be lowered to 50 to 75% of its original height.

Huagh unit and Yolk color

The results of Huagh unit and yolk color were presented in Table 6. There was no significance difference in all the treatment groups of layers feds on different level of cassava tuber meal. Albumen quality is influenced by many factors such as storage time and temperature, environmental conditions and hen age, strain of bird, nutrition (dietary protein and amino acid content) (Roberts, 2010). A minimum measurement in HU for eggs reaching the consumer is 60. However, most eggs leaving the farm should be between 75 and 85 HU (Zaman et al.2005). (William,1992) noted that nutrition has minor impact on albumen quality, and the decline in Haugh units is mostly related to age of the hen and egg storage conditions.

There was no significant difference between all the treatment groups (P>0.05) in the intensity of yolk color. This result was contrary to that of (Smith, 2003) who reported that replacing 50% of the maize in the ration by cassava tuber meal resulted in the reduction of the intensity of the yellow yolk pigmentation, because of the low carotene content of cassava.

(Adermi e tal.2012) reported that Yolk color was improved by the inclusion of whole cassava meal in layers ration. It has been established that cassava leaf has high carotene content which enriches the yolk color of an egg.

Shell thickness and strength

There was no significant (P>0.05) difference in egg shell thickness and strength between the treatment groups fed on the treatment ration containing different levels (0-100%) of sun dried cassava tuber meal in the current study. The results of this study were similar with that of (Adermi etal.2012) who showed that the shell thickness was not significantly affected by inclusion of dietary cassava. The non- significance of shell thickness implied that all the dietary treatments were adequate in calcium which was similar to a finding that cassava based diet did not interfere with calcium metabolism in the laying hen (Lawal,1992).

Shell thickness is a function of the level of calcium and phosphorus available in layers ration and was not negatively affected as a result of the inclusion of whole cassava meal. Smaller eggs have stronger shells than larger ones, as hens have a finite capacity to deposit calcium in the shell and as a result, the same amount of calcium is spread over a larger area (Rajkumar et al.2009). Older birds tend to lay bigger eggs and have a higher egg output, which impacts on shell strength (Butcher and Miles, 2003).

Conclusion and recommendation

In Ethiopia, shortage and high market price of feed ingredients are the major constraints to poultry production. In cereal grain deficient areas, the use of cassava to substitute maize grain as source of energy seems to be appealing. This is true because of that cassava is growing in a wide range of agro climatic zone of the country. The crop has been cultivated, mainly, in the south, south west, and western parts of the country and well known in its ability to produce economically under relatively marginal rainfall and soil conditions. Drying is the most popular practice to reduce the water and anti-nutritional factor content of cassava indicating that it could be processed into poultry feed at household level. The results of the current study showed that there were no statistically significance difference (P<0.05) between the groups fed on maize and sundried cassava tuber meal in egg production and feed conversion ratio. However, the use of sundried cassava tuber meal in feeding different classes of poultry need to be further investigated.

Acknowledgement

First of all, I would like to thank God for his immeasurable love, giving me strength and patience to bring me out his humble piece of work in to light. Second, I would give to thank my advisor Professor Solomon Demeke to advise me and evaluate this review paper by losing his uncalculated time.

References

Anaeto, M and Adighibe LC 2011 Cassava Root Meal as Substitute for Maize in Layers Ration. Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science ISSN 1516-635X Apr - Jun 2011, 13 (2) :153-156.

AOAC (Association of Official Analytical Chemists),1990 Association of Official Analytical Chemists. Official Methods of Analysis (13th eds). Washington D.C.

Charles A L Sriroth K and Huang T C 2005 Proximate composition and mineral contentsof whole cassava.

Etalem T Getachew, A Mengistu U and Tadelle D 2012 Effect of replacing Moringa Olifera leaf meal for soybean meal in broiler ration. Global Journal of Science Frontier Research 12 (5),1-5.

IPMS (Improving productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian farmers), 2007 Goma Pilot Learning Wereda diagnosis and program design. IPMS, International livestock research institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Unpublished Report.

Mihret A 2013 Effects of substituting maize with sundried and ground cassava tuber on egg production, qaulity, fertility and hatchability of white leghorn hens. A thesis submitted to the school of graduate studies (Haramaya University in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the degree of master of science in agriculture (animal nutrition), Ethiopia. p71.

NRC (National Research Council) 1994 Nutrient requirements of poultry. Ninth revised edition, National Academy Press, Washington DC, USA.50-90p.

Okereke C O, Ukachukwu S N and Umesiobi D O 2008 Assessment of egg production indices of layers following dietary inclusion of composite cassava (Manihot esculanta) meal. Journal of Applied Animal Research, 33(1),69-72.

Oladunjoye I O, O Ojebiyiand and Amao O A 2010 Effect of feeding processed cassava (manihotesculentacrantz) peel meal based diet on the performance characteristics, egg quality and blood profile of laying chicken. University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State,Nigeria, pp123-124.

Oludare F A 2006 Protein replacement value of cassava (Manihot esculenta, Crantz) leaf protein concentrate (CLPC): Effects on egg quality, biochemical and haematological indices in laying birds. Journal of food agriculture and environment, 4(2),54.

Smith H 2003 Cassava as substitute for cereals in livestock rations. Available from: http://www. radajamaica.comjm/tech_articles.asp?section=technical &ID=46.

Solomon D., 2004. Egg production performance of local and White Leghorn hens under intensive and rural household conditions in Ethiopia. Livestock Research for Rural Development 16 (2).

Solomon Demeke 2003 Growth performance and survival of Local and White Leghorn chickens under scavenging and intensive systems of management in Ethiopia. Livestock Research for Rural Development 15, 11.

Sultana F M, Ali A and Jahan I 2012 Growth Performance Meat Yield and Profitability of Broiler Chickens Fed Diets Incorporating Cassava Tuber Meal. Journal of Environmental Science and Natural Resources 5(1),47- 53.

Tesfaye E, Animut G, Urge M and Dessie T 2013 Moringa olifera leaf meal as an alternative protein feed ingredient in broiler ration. International Journal of Poultry Science, 12(5),289.Sultan,

F M Ali A and Jahan, I. 2012 Growth Performance Meat Yield and Profitability of Broiler Chickens Fed Diets Incorporating Cassava Tuber Meal. Journal of Environmental Science and Natural Resources 5(1),47- 53.

Wilson K J and R S Beyer 2000 Poultry Nutrition Information for the Small Flock.Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service.

Wiseman J. 1987 Feeding of Non-Ruminant Livestock. Butterworth and C.Ltd. 370 p.

Zaman M A, S Ahmed and B C Sutradhar 2005 Study on the egg quality of a breed and three crossbreds at various ages under semi scavenging system of management. Pakistan Journal of Biological Science. 8,211-214.