Abstract

A 42-day study was carried out with ninety 14-day old broiler chickens (Cobb 500) to evaluate the dietary inclusion of cassava flour in full replacement with maize on growth performance, carcass characteristics and haematological parameters. The chickens were randomly allotted to 6 pens involving two dietary treatments of three replicates per each treatment and 15 birds per each replicate in a Complete Randomized Design. Variables measured included feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion efficiency, mortality, feed cost, and haematology. Feed and water were provided ad libitum. Results indicated that the total inclusion of cassava flour in broiler diet reduced (P>0.05) feed intake. Also, there was a depression (P<0.05) in the growth rate and feed efficiency in the broiler chickens fed on the cassava flour based diets during experimental period. Again, replacing maize with the cassava flour in broiler diet reduced (P<0.05) the dressing percentage of carcass. However, haematological parameters were not affected by dietary treatments. Nonetheless, the cost of feed was reduced with the substitution of maize with cassava flour in broiler diet. In conclusion, the total replacement of maize with cassava flour in broiler chickens diets has deleterious effect on growth, but reduced the cost of feeding, thereby resulting in higher net revenue.

Key words: Cassava root flour, dietary inclusion, performance and broiler chicken