Abstract

An experiment was conducted to investigate effect of garri on growth and economic performance of local turkeys as an alternative feed ingredient to maize. A total of one hundred and thirty-five day- old unsexed local poults were used for the study. Birds were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments with three replicates in a completely randomized design (CRD). Each treatment group had twenty-seven poults with nine poults per replicate. The experiment lasted for 16 weeks, 0-8 weeks and 9-16 weeks for the starter and grower phases respectively, during which starter and grower diets were fed. garri replaced dietary maize at 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% in the diets designated T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 respectively. Feed and water offered ad libitum throughout the experiment. Results indicated that at the starter phase 75 and 100 garri significantly (P<0.05) reduced live weight, feed intake and produced poor feed: gain ratio. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in live weight, feed intake and feed: gain ratio between control, 25 and 50% garri. During the grower phase 75 and 100% reduced (P<0.05) live weight, but there was no difference in feed intake and feed: gain ratio. Replacing maize with 75 and 100% garri significantly (P<0.05) reduced gross margin. Therefore 50% garri could be used to replace maize in diets of local turkeys.

Keywords:Economic performance; Garri; Growth; Maize; Local turkeys