ABSTRACT

An experiment was carried out to investigate the performance of direct-fed-microbes (Zyrnoinonas niobilis) treated cassava tuber as energy feed for broiler birds. One hundred and eighty day old birds were used in the study which were randomly divided into 3 groups of 60 birds per group. Each group was assigned to one of experimental diet and clean water given. They were weighed at the beginning of the study and at weekly intervals for 56 days. Feed were also measured before given for data collection. The result on final weight gain was highest in T2 (1789.5g) (P>0.05), the highest feed intake was also observed in treatment two (6083.3g), the best feed conversion ratio of (3.6) was noted also in treatment two (P>0.05). Based on the economic benefits studied, the costs of production were generally high in treatment two (658.6), followed by treatment three (614.4) and treatment one. The highest gross margin was observed in treatment two (N415.1), followed by treatment one (N159.7) which revealed significant (P<0.05) among the treatments. The results of this study have shown that cassava tubers could be treated with Zyniomonas mobil/s for the production of energy feed for broilers, and for better performance and good economic returns. Therefore, it is recommended that, where cassava tubers are found and are cheap, they should be used to produce direct-fed-microbes for the production of energy feed for broilers. There is also need to study the optimal levels of inclusion of the direct-fed-microbes for the production of cassava diet for broilers.