ABSTRACT Agricultural activities have been identified as the most common causes of land transformation. Such transformation results in changes in ecological features, such as weed flora succession. It is in view of this that a work is carried out to evaluate the effect of land clearing and tillage methods on weed incidence under maize - cassava intercropping system. The experiment was carried out at the International Board for Soil Research and Management experimental site, Epemakinde Nigeria...
Improvement of the domestic chicken has dominated the effort of indigenous breeders in Nigeria in recent times. Three hundred and fifty-seven (357) Fulani ecotype chickens were surveyed and assessed for their phenotypic and productive characteristics in Osun State, Nigeria. Mature weight (kg), comb size, wattle size, breast length, breast width, leg length (all in cm); egg weight (gm), clutch size were examined and classified. A higher level of variability was revealed in comb size, wattle si...
ABSTRACT Genotype sensitivity as a change in the relative performance of a genotype in the presence of two or more environments could be an important factor in the breeding of exotic birds in the tropics. Farm records covering 10 years (1999 - 2008) were employed to study the effect of seasons on genotype sensitivity and their usability for selection in the breeding of exotic Parent stock chickens of Bovan and ISA origins in South-West Nigeria. Cock weight, hen weight, Hen-day production, egg...
Abstract: Seasons play an important role in the performance of breeder chickens, but lack of adequate records on its specific effects in specific seasons could influence the efforts of breeders to improve on local ecotypes of chicken for standardization into breeds. This is why Nigeria still depends mainly on imported breeds of chicken for commercial production of chicken. In this study, the influence of Early Wet (EW), Late Wet (LW) and Early Dry (ED) and Late Dry (LD) seasons on reproductiv...
Abstract Interactive effects of strain, live weight and a non-genetic factor namely micro-environment on the live weight development of cane rats reared in captivity were investigated over a seven-month period. A total of seventy-nine (79) cane rats (Thryonomys swinderianus) originating from three different sources (strains) and of four body weight categories were used for the study. The treatment design was 4x3 Factorial of Live-weightXStrain randomly assigned to 3 Houses (block) using RCBD,...
ABSTRACT This study was carried out to determine the level of contamination of commercial poultry feed, feed ingredients and faecal samples with multi-drug resistant Klebsiella species in Imo State, Nigeria. Samples were collected from broiler starter, broiler finisher, growers and layers feed types of three feed brands labelled TFB, VFB and GFB. Faecal samples from broilers, layers and local chicken were collected from randomly selected farms, open market and local chicken in each zone u...
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY All microorganisms are ubiquitous in nature and their interactions with plants, and animals and humans has been recognized for centuries. Some of these interactions are beneficial to the host as in the case of biotransformation such as fermentation and the production of antibiotics. Penicillin, which is one the most famous antibiotics drugs in the world, derived from a common fungus known as Penicillium and it is used to control disease in human and animal population...
This study focused on determining the effect of white ginger root (Mondia whitei) on haematological indices and serum biochemistry of starter broiler chickens. A 28-day feeding trial was conducted using a total of One hundred and fifty Arbor Acre broiler chicken. The birds were divided into five dietary groups with three replicates of ten birds. The dietary groups were control (basal diet), Mondia whitei meal (MWM) + basal diet at graded levels of 1g/kg, 1.5g/kg, 2.0g/kg and 2.5g/kg. Blood sa...
The environment plays a major role in the profitability of any livestock enterprise. Therefore, understanding how each environmental factor affects the growth, welfare and reproduction of animals is very important. When the influence that each environmental factor has on the growth, welfare and reproduction is known, the livestock producer can provide solutions that will mitigate the negative effects of these environmental factors on his livestock. The positive influence of any environmental ...
A study was conducted to determine the influence of an aqueous solution of tamarind pulp on growth and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens. One hundred and sixty, one week old broilers were divided into 4 treatment groups replicated 4 times in a completely randomized design. The control group was given 0g/L tamarind pulp (TP) while the other groups received 20g/L, 30g/L and 40g/L tamarind pulp in drinking wa...
ABSTRACTS A six-week experimental study was conducted to estimate the growth performance and plasma antioxidant capacity of broiler chickens fed Schilbe mystus fishmeal fortified with or without vitamin E. The vitamin E was fortified at two levels of 400mg and 800mg per kilogram of Schilbe mystus for the experimental diets. One hundred and ninety five (195) day old chicks broiler of Marshal strain were used. These birds were randomly allotted to five dietary treatment o...
ABSTRACT A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of 20% inclusion replacement of maize with peeled cassava root meal and unpeeled cassava root meal with and without enzyme inclusion. A total of 90, 42 weeks old black Harco layers were divided into 6 groups with 3 replicate for each group. Each replicate had 5 birds. The 6 diets comprise of control, peeled cassava root meal and unpeeled cassava root meal, with and without enzyme. Each diet was offered ad libitum to the birds for a period...
This study was conducted to evaluate the growth response and haematological indices of broiler chickens fed corn-soya based diets supplemented with or without protease enzyme. Two hundred and forty (240) one-day old Arbo-acre broiler chickens were assigned to six dietary treatments. Each dietary group had 40 birds with 4 replicates of 10 birds each. Experimental diet were formulated such that Diet 1, 3, & 5 containing 100% Soybean meal (100%SBM), 50% Soybean meal and 50%Full fat soya(50:50:FF...
ABSTRACT The number of animals used in research has increased with the advancement of research and development in recent time. The pain, distress and death experienced by these animals during scientific experiments have been a debating issue for a longtime. Argument is that being alive, animals have the rights against pain and distress and hence, their use for experimentation is unethical and must be stopped. Besides the major concern of ethics, there are few more disadvantages of animal expe...
Abstract The study was conducted to characterize pork and pork products marketing and challenges in Ethiopia. Multistage random sampling procedure was applied to select a total of 40 pork retailers from six towns. Structured questionnaire was used to collect information through face to face interview. Pork retailers were clustered into three categories as small scale (sell 10kg pork per day) based on quantities of pork selling ...