ISHS Acta Horticulturae 380: Symposium on Tropical Root Crops in a Developping Economy
SWEET POTATO UTILIZATION IN POULTRY DIETS |
| Author: | O. O. Tewe |
| Abstract:
The study evaluated the suitability of sun (solar) dried and oven-dried sweet potato as poultry feed. An oven-drier suitable for dehydrating tubers at the rural farm level was fabricated. Oven-dried sweet potato chips were compared with sun-dried samples in 3 trials with broilers and one with layers. In trial 1, sun-dried and oven-dried sweet potato replaced maize at 0, 50, and 100% in broiler rations. Sweet potato reduced body weight gain and nutrient utilization when compared with the maize-based control diet. Performance was better with the oven-dried rations. In trial 2, oven-dried sweet potato replaced maize at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% in broiler rations. Performance was optimal at 30% replacement of maize with sweet potato. In trial 3, variation of metabolizable energy at the starter and finisher phases did not improve biological performance in broilers. The layer trial revealed that oven-dried sweet potato can completely replace maize at a metabolizable energy of 2.45 kcal/g with satisfactory biological performance, nutrient utilization, and economy of feed conversion. | |
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