Studies on Dietary Fermented Mixture of Cassava and Palm Kernel Cake on Carcass Characterisitcs of Broilers and Pigs

ABSTRACT

Five experiments were carried out to determine the effect of replacing maize with solid state fermented mixture of cassava root pulp and palm kernel cake on performance, carcass and meat quality of broiler chicks and pigs. First, 3 inoculation techniques were evaluated for their efficacy in solid state fermentation of the mixture namely; direct inoculation with Aspergillus niger, batch inoculation with previously inoculated samples, and spontaneous inoculation. In study 2, sundried spontaneously fermented samples (FEMCARPP) were used to replace maize in broiler chicks diets, whereas in study 3, the performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of broiler finishers fed diets containing wet or sundried FEMCARPP were compared to the controls (maize based diet) and another diet containing a mixture of cassava root meal and palm kernel cake (CSM-PKC mix) as replacement for maize. In study 4, FEMCARPP was used to replace maize in diet of weaner pig whereas study 5 evaluated the performance, carcass and meat quality of pigs fed diets in which maize was replaced FEMCARPP and CSM- PKC mix. Results show that, all inoculation techniques were efficient in improving the physicochemical characteristics of the mixture for inclusion in poultry ration. Dustiness of cassava meals was completely removed, protein content increased significantly, while crude fibre levels reduced in treatments relative to the control. Broiler chicks fed sundried FERMCARPP had significantly (p0.05) while meat quality of chicks fed diets containing FEMCARPP was better (p