Utilization of Cassava to improve the productivity of chicken in lower Mekong

Chhum Phith Loan

Royal University of Agriculture, Faculty of Animal Production and Health
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Abstract

The research was carried out during 2 months from October to December 2001 in the Research Station of Royal University of Agriculture in Phnom Penh. The objective is using diet with different treatment of cassava leave meal (CLM) to replace dried fish and to reduce the production cost. The parameter live weight was measured weekly. The trials were randomized block design with 4 replications per treatment. Chicken were divided into 4 groups fed with 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% of CLM, whereas the feed was measured daily. The result of the experiment is that there were no significant different on live weight between control group and treatment 1 until 8^th week of age while the feed conversion ratio they were better than treatment 2 and 3. The mortality of treatment 2 and 3 were higher than control group and treatment 1. Therefore the utilization of CLM in diet of chicken is limited.

Introduction

Cassava is a local crop and the growth of this plant is very quickly in the short time. Every where the farmer grew cassava to be get only root for human food, where as the leaves and stem were through away. Gomez, et al. (1985) and Nwokolo (1987) find out that the protein content of cassava leaves was around 22 % after an air-dry for a few days. Therefore we are able to replace soy bean and fish meal into the feed concentrate to reduce the feed cost of poultry production. After Gomey, et al. (1983) the performance of chicken by providing diet with 10 or 20 % of cassava meal was similar to those the control group. Ravindran, et al. (1989) showed that the performance of broiler can tolerate a level of 15 % cassava leave meal (CLM) without negative affect on their growth. Otherwise, the increasing of chicken meat responds to the need of Cambodian at the present time. The utilization of local feed resource as cassava for supplying on the feed ratio of chicken is very important for sustainable of poultry production in Cambodia. On the other hand, the supplementation of cassava leave is able to reduce the cost of poultry production. Throughout cassava replace soy bean and fish meal we are able to increase the families income and improve the livelihood of the poor farmer.

Material and Method:

The experiment was conducted in the Animal Experimental Station of the Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia during October to December 2001. The chicken was reared on the cement concrete floor covered by rice husk. It is used 304 day-old broiler chick "Avian" breed with 47.46g ± 3.32. The experiment was completely randomized design with 4 treatments A, B, C and D and 4 replications in which contained 19chicken/pen. Feeding was ad libitum by replacing a mixture contained 60% of maize and 40% of fish meal with 4 level of cassava leave meal (CLM), 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% in group A, B, C and D respectfully. CLM was the result of these following works: harvested fresh cassava leaves, then chopped in small pieces, after that sun-dried for a few day and finally ground in a hammer mill. Chicken were individually weigh weekly whereas the feed consumption and mortal chicken were recorded daily. Feedings were divided into 2 phases according to the age: first from 0-4week and second from 4-8week. The feed formulation was shown in the Table 1.

Table 1: Feed formulation
Ingredients	Feeding in the 1^st phase (0-4week)				Feeding in the 2^nd phase (4-8week)
Ingredients	CLM0	CLM10	CLM20	CLM30	CLM0	CLM10	CLM20	CLM30
Mixture (maize + fish)	60	50	40	30	50	40	30	20
Rice bran	36	36	36	36	46	46	46	46
CLM	0	10	20	30	0	10	20	30
Vitamin	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15
Premix	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Shell	3.15	3.15	3.15	3.15	3.15	3.15	3.15	3.15
Salt	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
CP in DM, %	20.4	20.3	20.3	20.2	18.4	18.4	18.3	18.2

Result and Discussion

Detailed result was shown in annex below whereas the overall result was expressed in the Table 2. The performance of chicken by different treatment of cassava leave meal during the trial of two months was shown in Graphic. 1. From starting until the end of test period, there were no significant difference on live weight by control and treatment 1; it is similar to the result of Ravindran et al. (1989) who found that the performance of chicken can tolerate a level of 15% CLM. On the other hand the control and treatment 1 have a tendency significance live weight than treatment 2 and 3 (p£0.001). The Graphic 2 was indicated that the feed intake by treatment 1 and 2 was relatively higher than control and treatment 3, whereas the feed conversion ratio of control and treatment 1 were better than treatment 2 and 3. The mortality of chicken at the end of research was showed in Graphic 3. There was higher mortality by treatment 2 and 3 due to higher containing of cyanic acid in the diet.

Table 2: The overall result of the experiment

	Parameter	Control	Treatment 1	Treatment 2	Treatment 3
Number	Start	76	76	76	76
Number	Finish	74	72	66	45
Weight	`X	1565.9a	1604.9a	1129.1b	623.1c
Weight	S±	446.3	424.0	328.2	317.4
Feed intake	`X	498.36	571.37	539.04	394.79
Feed intake	S±	285.17	326.27	321.21	216.45
FCR	`X	2.86	3.45	5.30	9.39
FCR	S±	0.21	0.03	0.48	0.88
Mortality	X (%)	2.63	5.26	13.16	40.79

Conclusions

It is concluded that the utilization of cassava leave meal in the diet of broiler chicken is the target of reducing the production cost of feed. On the other hand it is enhanced the sustainability of livestock production in farmer family. However, it is recommended that using cassava leave meal in chicken diet should be limited not more than 10% due to containing of cyanic acid and high crude fiber. It is revealed that using 10% of cassava leaves meal for replacing maize and fish meal brings a benefit result for the performance of chicken.

References

Gomez, G , Vadieviso, M Santos, J , Hoyos, C. (1983)Evaluation f cassava root meal prepared from low and high cyanide containing cultivas in pig and broiler diets. In Nutrition Report International, 28:4, 693-704

Ravandran, V, Kornegay, ET, Rajaguro, ASB, Potter, LM, Cherry, JA (1986) Cassava leaf meal as a replacement for coconut oil meal in broiler diets. In Poultry Science 65:9, 1720-1727, 19 ref

Nwokolo, E : (1987) Leaf meal of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) and siam weed (Epatorium odoratum L. ) as nutrient sources in Poultry. In Nutrient Reports International. 36:4, 819-826, 15 ref

Annex 1: Performance of chicken in the different treatment

Week	Parameter	Control	Treat 1	Treat 2	Treat3	F-value	P
0	n	76	76	76	76	3.51
	`X	47.276	46.566	47.789	48.197
	S±	3.443	3.649	3.638	2.129
2	n	76	76	76	74	62.67	0
	`X	166.54a	137.11b	110.13c	84.05d
	S±	51.07	47.10	27.94	19.67
4	n	76	74	74	74	79.96	0
	`X	542.2a	478.8a	312.6b	170.9c
	S±	205.3	194.2	136.4	76.4
6	n	73	74	72	59	93.93	0
	`X	997.1a	969.5a	611.0b	292.0c
	S±	364.9	321.8	176.0	180.6
8	n	74	72	66	45	75.63	0
	`X	1565.9a	1604.9a	1129.1b	623.1c
	S±	446.3	424.0	328.2	317.4

Annex 2: Average feed intake and feed conversion ratio of chicken in the different treatments

Week	Parameter	Feed Intake				Feed Conversion Ratio
Week	Parameter	Control	Treat. 1	Treat. 2	Treat. 3	Control	Treat. 1	Treat. 2	Treat. 3
1	`X	14.45	14.94	13.50	11.33	2.63	2.93	3.83	7.40
1	S±	5.11	5.13	4.13	3.68	0.51	0.50	0.57	1.66
2	`X	30.68	31.76	27.65	22.11	2.71	4.13	5.27	6.53
2	S±	7.11	6.51	8.24	11.16	0.31	0.22	0.83	1.17
3	`X	48.07	63.74	61.41	40.42	2.33	3.39	6.40	7.81
3	S±	8.14	9.86	8.03	9.28	0.38	0.29	1.55	1.10
4	`X	74.56	84.77	79.49	75.79	2.30	2.87	4.64	11.07
4	S±	14.11	8.74	9.02	12.47	0.18	0.35	1.90	2.95
5	`X	94.39	100.08	90.77	80.68	2.46	2.14	3.09	7.18
5	S±	5.33	4.90	8.08	8.77	0.17	0.19	0.36	2.72
6	`X	114.91	122.51	113.73	68.23	4.59	5.44	9.15	16.12
6	S±	11.74	5.41	15.02	13.26	0.99	0.90	2.30	4.45
7	`X	121.31	153.57	152.49	96.24	3.03	3.23	4.73	9.62
7	S±	31.46	22.51	22.51	11.50	0.84	0.89	0.47	9.55