*2.1.2 The use of graded levels of cassava peels in poultry*

A lot of literature has shown that cassava peels can replace maize in poultry rations without any marked adverse effect on the performance of the birds. Although cassava has some anti-nutritional factors mainly cyanogenic glycoside, which could limit the use in poultry diet; however, different processing methods have being proffered such as soaking and sun drying, which has enhanced the use in poultry [24, 25]. Since the adoption of alternative feeds for livestock would likely meet such a requirement, cassava peel is found useful considering its large supply. According to Ogunwole et al. [26], dietary inclusion of cassava grits obtained from TME 419 and TMS 01/1371 varieties of cassava did not affect the growth performance of the broiler chickens. In the study conducted by Nwangwu and Ogah [27] on the effect of cassava peel meal on the hematological parameters of cockerels, the authors reported that dietary inclusion of 20–30% of cassava peel meal is the optimum level required to maintain homeostasis with a highly packed cell volume and hemoglobin levels in the blood. The higher hematological values recorded in the cassava peel meal-based diets with respect to the packed cell volume and hemoglobin values reflect a good physiological status of the birds.

### *2.1.3 The inclusion level of cassava grits in poultry*

One of the potential alternative feedstuffs is cassava grits, and there seems to be paucity of information using cassava grits in layer's diet. Cassava grits are one of the by-products of cassava during the production of flour with a considerable energy content as its consumption is less competitive in view of cassava flour and maize as a suitable replacement for maize. Tewe [28] had earlier reported the use of cassava grits and chips as alternative sources of energy in poultry. Ajide et al. [29] reported the optimum level in which cassava grits could be used to replace maize in the diet of laying hens at 0, 20, 40, and 60% without affecting the production performance. The proximate composition of cassava grits was found to be high in energy and low in protein making it a suitable novel feed for replacing maize as an energy source in the diet of laying hens. The ether extract, ash, crude fiber, and nitrogen-free extract contents recorded in the test diet were 5.87, 2.76, 4.61, and adequate for meeting the nutrient requirement for laying hens as presented in **Table 1**. **Table 2** presents the production performance of the laying hens. The average daily feed intake of the


### **Table 1.**

*Proximate composition of cassava grits.*


### **Table 2.**

*Effect of replacing maize with cassava grits on the performance of laying hens.*

laying hens across the dietary treatments was not significantly (p > 0.05) affected by the introduction of cassava grits when the birds attained the age of 55–57 weeks. The same trend was observed in the feed conversion ratio, egg production, and egg weight. The pattern in the egg production revealed that the birds on the control diet recorded higher values but not statistically significant in relation to their counterpart fed the dietary cassava grits. The in-consequential effect of the cassava grits following the introduction in the diet of the hens from 20 to 60% implies that it may not impact negatively on the monetary returns of the farmers and could be leveraged upon during the off-season.

### *2.1.4 The use of different varieties of sorghum, millet, and residues for maize in poultry*

Bulus et al. [30] reported the use of two different varieties of guinea corn and millets for replacing maize completely on the growth performance and nutrient retention in broiler chickens. Five dietary treatments were formulated involving the control, white guinea corn, yellow guinea corn, pearl millet, and finger millet as treatments 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The crude protein in the diets were 23.5%, 21.5% having a metabolizable energy of 2,800, 2,900 respectively at the starter and finisher phases. The birds on diet 4 (pearl) and 5 (finger) millets had higher final live weight, average daily weight gain in both phases. The best feed conversion ratio and cost per kilogram live weight were recorded in diet 4. The feed intake was higher in the birds fed the yellow guinea corn at the starter phase. The growth indices were generally lower in Diet 2 (white guinea corn) in comparison with other dietary treatments. The authors concluded that the use of millet and yellow guinea corn can be successfully used in replacing maize in the diet of broilers without affecting the growth performance parameters and nutrient retention.

### *Workable Alternatives to Conventional Inputs in Poultry Farming DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110199*

Igwebuike et al. [31] evaluated the effect of replacing maize with spent sorghum grain on the performance of broiler finisher chickens. The growth indices revealed that the final live weight, average daily weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio were similar in the spent sorghum diet compared with the maize-fed control diet. The feed cost per kilogram was cheaper in the diet compounded with spent sorghum grain. It was concluded by the author that the profit margin in broilers fed spent sorghum grain was higher than the maize-fed control diet. Diarra et al. [32] substituted the use of wheat bran for millet bran, the authors concluded that the birds receiving the diet formulated with millet bran in place of wheat offal were not affected, and feed cost per kilogram was also cheaper.

## *2.1.5 The use of sesame seed meal as protein source in poultry*

Sesame seed meal is a by-product of sesame after its oil extraction. Although sesame seed meal is lower in lysine, isoleucine, leucine, and valine when compared with soya bean meal, it has substantial levels of the sulfur-containing amino acids, especially methionine. Previous studies revealed that sesame seed meal can be used as substitute for corn and soya bean meal when synthetic methionine is included in the diet. It was reported that sesame seed meal can make up 10–12% of broiler diet without any side effect on the growth performance of the birds [33]. The crude protein, ether extract, soluble carbohydrate, and ash contents in the sesame seed were reported to contain 18–25%, 44–58%, 13.5%, and 5%, respectively [34]. Similarly, Olaiya and Makinde [22] conducted a study to determine the growth performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens fed different methods of processing sesame seed. In the experiment, five diets were compounded, diet 1 was the control, and the remaining diets 2, 3, 4, and 5 were processed by sun drying, roasting, boiling, and soaking. Each processing method was included in the diet at 15%, respectively. The final body weight and average weight gain were significantly influenced by the treatments. Birds fed the control, roasted, boiled, and soaked diets showed better feed utilization compared to birds fed the sun-dried diet. The average daily feed intake was significantly (P < 0.05) higher among birds fed soaked diet. The study concluded that birds fed diets containing 15% roasted and soaked sesame seed meal compared favorably with birds fed the control diet in terms of growth performance.
