GROWTH RESPONSE AND NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY OF JAPANESE QUAILS (Coturnix coturnix japonica) FED SUN-DRIED AND HONEY-FLAVOURED CASSAVA PEEL MEAL DIETS

Abstract

A six-weeks feeding trial was conducted to determine the effect of feeding varying levels of sun-dried and honey-flavoured cassava peel meal, as a replacement of maize, on the growth performance of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) using 200 two-weeks-old chicks. The wet cassava peels were collected fresh, cleaned and sun-dried for seven days, after which they were coarsely milled and flavoured with honey. The birds were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments with 45 birds per treatment, each replicated thrice designated T1, T2, T3 and T4 containing 0, 50, 75 and 100 % of sun-dried and honey-flavoured cassava peel meal (HSCPM) as replacement for dietary maize respectively. The parameters measured were initial body weight, final body weight, average feed intake, average weight gained, and feed conversion ratio. At the end of the 5th week, a nutrient digestibility trial was carried out. Results show that there were no significant (P>0.05) differences among the treatment means for initial body weight, average weight gain and feed conversion ratio. Significant (P<0.05) differences were however recorded for average feed intake and final body weight. There were significant (P<0.05) differences in the nutrient digestibility of the birds across the treatment means. Hence, it was concluded that HSCPM can be used to replace up to 100 % maize in the diet of growing Japanese quails with no detrimental effect on growth performance and nutrient digestibility.