Master of Science (M.Sc.) Theses and Dissertations

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Browsing Master of Science (M.Sc.) Theses and Dissertations by Author "YUSUF, Abiola Adeyege"

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    Nutrient Characterisation of Hydrolysed and Microbially-Degraded Feather Meal and Their Utilizations by Laying Birds.
    (Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University., 2021) YUSUF, Abiola Adeyege
    The study determined the nutrient digestibility, laying performance and egg quality of pullets fed with hydrolysed and microbially-degraded feather meal. This was with a view to determining the effect of hydrolysed and microbially-degraded feather meal on the laying performance of the birds. In the digestibility trial, a total number of seventy weeks old (70) twelve cockerel birds were individually housed in cages. Each was tube-fed 30 g of test ingredients and was divided into three feeding groups of 4 birds per group: group A (glucose in water), B (commercially hyrolysed feather meal (CHF) and C (microbially-degraded feather meal (MDF). In feeding trial, five experimental diets were fed to five groups of laying birds. Diet 1 served as the control without feather meal, Diet 2 contained 5% hydrolysed feather meal while Diet 3 contained 8% hydrolysed feather meal. Diet 4 contained 5% microbially-degraded feather meal and Diet 5 contained 8% microbially-degraded feather meal. Birds were randomly assigned to dietary treatments in three replicates of ten birds each and the experimental design was completely randomized design. Data were collected on hen-day egg production, egg weight and feed conversion ratio. At 4th, 6th and 8th week of the study, three eggs per replicate were collected to measure the internal and external qualities of the eggs produced. Raw feather, hydrolysed feather meal and microbially-degraded feather meal were analysed for amino acid contents and the experiment lasted for eight weeks. Feed and excreta samples were also analysed for proximate composition. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in chemical composition of test samples except for dry matter and crude protein. Dry matter of CHF and MDF were 90.00% and 94.33% respectively while the crude protein value of CHF were 80.32% and MDF 85.1 % respectively. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in nutrient digestibility of hydrolysed and microbially-degraded feather meals. The digestibility values of dry matter of CHF and MDF were 60.42% and 59.49% respectively, while the crude protein of CHF and MDF were 76.41% and 80.25% respectively. In the feeding trial, the feed conversion ratio, feed cost, body weight gain and hen day egg production of laying birds were not significantly (p>0.05) affected by the dietary treatments except feed. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the egg quality parameters across all treatments except albumen and yolk heights. It was concluded from the study that microbially-degraded feather meal compared favourably with hydrolysed feather meal and both can be included up to 8% in the diets of laying birds without negative effects on laying performance and egg quality.