ANP 511- Animal Nutrition

Nigeria is blessed with vast range of feed resources such as forages, grains, oilseeds and agro-industrial by-products which could be used in the formulation of quality livestock feed. These local available feed resources in Nigeria have potential to support a flourishing livestock industry. However, these potentials are grossly under-utilized by the farmers resulting in a depressed livestock industry, thus making it second to crop production in Nigeria. This low capacity feed resources utilization could be linked to inadequate information based on location and localization of feed resources, processing, preservation/storage and quality enhancement/assessment. The rapid success and expansion of the livestock industry therefore, depends on the availability of good quality, quantity and cheap compounded feeds. This is particularly true of the intensive livestock enterprises such as poultry, pigs and rabbits, whose performance depends mainly on the use concentrate and balanced compounded feeds. Therefore, the single most important constraint facing the livestock industry are several problems relating to the inadequate supply, high cost and poor quality of feeds have seriously threatened the (poultry) livestock industry in recent times.