ABSTRACT
A total of one hundred and fifty day-old marshal broiler chicks were randomly distributed into six treatments with three (3) replicates each with 24 birds per treatment. Six diets were formulated and fed for a period of five (5) weeks experiment to determine the feeding value of Local brewer dried grains (LBDG) supplemented with or without enzyme to replace groundnut cakes (GNC) in the diet of broiler starter. The experiment was conducted at the university farm, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Abuja, permanent site FCT Abuja. Feed intake, growth performance of the birds as well as nitrogen intake, excreta nitrogen, nitrogen retained and nitrogen retention were calculated, cost of feed per kg, declined with an inclusion levels of LBDG. It was concluded that LBDG inclusion at a level of 50% will reduce the cost of feed and increase profit margin. The result showed a decrease in weight gain as the levels of LBDG increased from 0 to 50%. However, there was no deleterious effect on the animals, hence a lower inclusion level is recommend in order to reduce production cost.
KEYWORDS:
Feed intake, growth performance, broiler diets, broiler chicks, nitrogen retain, excreta nitrogen, nitrogen retention, nitrogen intake, weight gain.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
Nigeria’s poultry sector suffered several years of decline due to many factors including high cost of feed, poultry product, importation and unfavorable investment climate among others. The period, 1986 to the late 1990’s witnessed a dramatic decline from a peak of 40 million in 1982 to a mere 10 million in 1997. However the demand for day-old chicks increased markedly thereafter as local poultry farmers’ attempts to expand broiler production for the Christmas season and to fill the supply gap created by the ban on imports (Okonkwo and Akubo, 2002).
Local brewer dried grains are the solid residue left after the processing of germinated and dried cereal grains (malt) for the production of burukutu and other malt products malt extracts and malt vinegar (Afolayan, M.O 2008). Though barley is the main grain used for brewing, pito are also soaked in water until they germinate and then dried to produce the malt (malting). The malted grain is milled and steeped in hot water so that enzymes transform the starch into sugars (mashing/saccharification). The resulting sugar-rich liquid (worth) is then boiled, filtered and fermented to produce beer.
Local brewer grains are collected at the end of the mashing process, once all sugars have been removed from the grain. The remaining product is a concentrate of proteins and fibre that is suitable on the highly variable by product whose composition and nutritional value depend on the grain used, on the industrial process and on the method of preservation. Local brewers grains are sold wet or dried and can be ensiled (Blezinger, 2003).
Local brewer dried grains have a long history in animal feeding. Before the industrial revolution, farms and monasteries in Europe brewed their own beer and fed their livestock with the resulting by products. These practices changed with the industrialization of brewing and animal feeding and local brewer dried grains being used by the feed industry (Crawshaw, 2004). Since brewery by products represent about 20% of beer production (Mussatto et al., 2006), world brewers grains production should be in the range of 35 – 40 million tons (8 million t in the EU). These estimates are relatively imprecise, as conversion ratio between grain, malt, beer and local brewer grains depend on the type of beer and on the process. In temperate countries, local brewer dried grains are mostly produced during the warm season, when beer consumption is higher. This means that they are more needed. Drying or ensiling is therefore necessary to defer the utilization of local brewers dried grains (Boessinger et al., 2005).
Wet brewer grains are a highly perishable and bulky product that is costly to transport. Their distribution is therefore limited to a radius of 150 – 350 km around the brewery. Dehydration, despite its high energy cost, facilitates the distribution of local brewer dried grains beyond their area of production, as local brewer dried grains are less bulky and less expensive to transport (Crawshaw, 2004).
LBDG however contains a wide variety of essential nutrients which are required in feed formulation for poultry. Couch (2008) and Ewing 2005) analyzed some LBDG samples and found that it contained over 20% crude protein, about 6% ether extract, over 15% crude fibre and about 4% ash. Almqust (2002) found that LBDG contained 34.84% crude protein and that it was fairly rich in essential amino acids i.e. 0.9% lysine, 0.4% methionine, 0.4% tryptophane, 1.2% phenylalanine, 1.1% threonine and 1.6% valine. It is therefore higher in protein and amino acids
than corn. Its use as animal feed does not call for competition between man and livestock as in the case of corn and other ingredients.
The use of LBDG in poultry feed would not be without constraint. The product is collected with moisture content of about 80% which increases. It needs to be dried before incorporation in poultry rations. Sun-drying is the most common method used and this method requires large space and large polythene sheets for drying. During drying the wet grains have to be spread in a thin layer and frequently turned to avoid fermentation which could result in lowering the nutritive value of the by-product. The turning process is tedious and time consuming.
In the tropics, feeding the livestock and poultry industry has always posed a problem to the producers. This subsequently leads to the high cost of producing the highly needed animal’s protein from monogastric animal especially poultry
Ologhobo (2000) reported that a large number of feedstuffs with such enormous potentials abound in Nigeria, and one of such is the local brewer’s dried grain which is a by-product of the brewery industrial use for now? It does not form food for humans or have any other industrial use for now. It is usually dried and sold as feedstuff for livestock. Its nutrient contents vary from plant to plant depending on the type of grain used (Barley, wheat, corn etc).Local brewer’s dried grain is an excellent source of quality by-pass protein and digestible fibre, with a good amino acid profile and it has high mineral and B-Vitamin content. Poultry and livestock production may continue to be ulcerative if costly conventional feedstuffs are not replaced with cheaper and available feedstuffs. It is therefore a recent trend among the animal nutritionist to use nonconventional feedstuffs in order to cut down on the cost of production which constitutes 60 – 70% of the total cost of production. According to Ojeniyi et al. (2012),
local brewer dried grains is relatively cheap, readily available with little or no competition between humans, farm animals and industries.
The local brewer dried grains is the residue gotten from the process of guinea corn and then, the fermentation process involved the soaking of guinea corn in water about two to three days, then poured the water away and the guinea corn would be inserted inside jut bag to undergo fermentation process. About one to two days, it would have germinated then sundried and grind into powdery corm. It would be boiled for twenty one to twenty –two hours before undergoing sieving process after which the residual is the local brewer dried grains. The ingredient in the local brewer dried grain includes; guinea corn, bitter leaf, water, yeasts, iron and other additives. (Ward, 1995) Local brewer dried grains is a by-product which is available from locally brewing pitto and burukutu in Gwagwalada Area Council. It is very cheap and really available in abundance because there is no competition of the LBDG among man, industry and livestock. Those brewers are very common around the Gwagwalada, Kwali, Abaji and Kuje Area Councils this made the LBDG to be available in large quantities.
The poultry has become a popular industry for the small holders with tremendous contribution to Nigeria GDP and employment opportunities creation (Adebayo and Adeola, 2005; Okonkwo and Akubo, 2010. It is therefore important that poultry farming be carried out efficiently for high productivity and sustainability of the industry in Nigeria. It has been established that feeding constitutes over 70% of the total cost of egg and broiler production (Afolayan, 2008) which implies that efforts to increase poultry industry productivity should be directed towards improving feed formulation system.
Poultry has contribute to Nigeria economy because is the quickest source of meat and its production process has generate employment and increase the living standard and create business opportunity such as egg, meat, day old chicks, feed, drug and vaccine seller etc. Hence increase poultry product is one of the surest and quickest ways of bringing the animal protein intake gap between developing counties of the world.
Yet planners and economist often underestimate the contribution of livestock to GDP that have great contribution to the economy of the country, poultry production have a significant effect on national economy. An earlier report by Okonkwo and Akubuo, (2001) show that about ten (10) percent of the Nigerian population are engaged in poultry production, mostly on subsistence and small or medium sized farms.
1.1 Problem Statement
The growth in Nigeria’s poultry sector is constrained by the persistent scarcity and high cost of major feed inputs such as maize, groundnut cake etc. According to Ologhobo (2000) the major problem of the poultry industry is the irregular and limited supply of all raw materials that are grown in Nigeria especially ground nut cake which reduced in terms of production since the discovery of crude oil Ologhobo (2000).
Another limitation to the expansion of the poultry industry is the high cost of protein and energy ingredients such as fish meal, groundnut cake (GNC) decorticated cottonseed cake, maize and guinea corn. In order to reduce this high cost, efforts are being directed to the use of non-conventional feed ingredients. Local brewers dried grains (LBDG) a by-product of the burukutu might offer a suitable cheap substitute.
The present study is necessary because of the availability of local BDG which has little or no competition in utilization. The cost of conventional feed ingredients has increased exorbitantly because of ever increasing competition with human beings for the same food items. Hence, the search for alternative feed sources has become inevitable to reduce the feed cost. Fermented local and industrial by-products of brewing have been used as feedstuffs in broiler mainly as protein and energy supplements, Aduku (1998).
Other related problems include:
1 High cost of producing livestock feeds.
2 Ineffective utilization of industrial by-products like LBDG.
3 Scarcity and high cost of conventional feedstuffs like maize, groundnut cake, fish meal etc.
4 High cost of producing the much needed animal protein.
1.2 Justification of the study
- LBDG is high in protein 34.84% and digestible fibre, thus a good feed ingredient for inclusion in the broiler’s diet Aduku (1998).
- LBDG is cheap and readily available and could serve as a good replacement for groundnut cake GNC) in the diet for broiler chicks.
- There is no competition between industries, farm animals and human beings for the use of LBDG.
1.3 Objectives of the study
This study will be conducted to investigate the effect of partial replacement of GNC with LBDG with or without enzyme supplementation on broiler chick performance and to determine nutritional composition of the experimental diets.
- To determine the level of LBDG that can replace GNC in broiler starter diet.
- To determine the cost effectiveness of replacing LBDG with or without enzyme supplementation for GNC in broiler starter diet.
- To determine the suitability of the tested diets as non-conventional source of protein in broiler feed.
- To determine the chemical composition of LBDG
- To determine the effect of enzyme supplementation of LBDG on the performance of broiler starter.
