ABSTRACT

 The productive performance and economic efficiency of broilers fed various dietary levels of roasted African yam bean meal (AYBM) was investigated. 180 "Marshal" breed broiler birds in their second week of life were randomly distributed to 6 treatments in which AYBM was incorporated at 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% levels. These levels represented the levels of replacement of soybean meal (SBM) with A YBM in the diets. The levels were also designated diets 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 respectively. Each treatment was replicated 3 times, with 10 birds per replicate and 30 birds per treatment. The birds on the various dietary levels were reared under two phases - the starter phase (2-5 weeks) and the finisher phase (5-8 weeks). The performance indices observed were; mean daily liveweight gain, daily feed intake while feed-to-gain-ratio was calculated. Other parameters were; cost of production, feed cost/kg, feed cosVbird, operational cost, cost savings, revenue and benefit. The results of the study revealed that there was a gradual but progressive decrease in the liveweight of the birds at both the starter and finisher phases as the substitutional levels of AYBM for soybean meal increased. The study also elucidated that the birds fed 100% AYBM had the lowest liveweight (563.0g, 1640.0g) and daily weight gain (26.0g, 41.0g) at both the starter and finisher phases respectively. These birds also had the highest feed-to-gain ratio (1.3, 1.4) at the starter and finisher phases respectively. Birds fed diets 2,3,4 and 5, compared favourably with the control diet in their performance parameters. The economic evaluation at starter and finisher phases showed that the cost of production, feed cost/kg and operational cost were not significantly different (P>0.05). The study also observed that it was profitable and economical to use between 20 and 80% A YBM as dietary replacement for SBM for broiler production.