Author : Amaral, Agostinha Soares

Summary : Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of cassava meal-foliage blends on energy concentration, growth performance, excreta quality, carcass characteristics, and relative organ weights of Philippine native (Darag) chickens. For Exp. 1, 20 adult Darag roosters were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments using a completely randomized design. Each rooster was housed in a metabolic cage that allowed for the total collection of excreta captured on plastic trays directly beneath each cage. There were five replicates per treatment. The first diet was a corn-soybean meal diet that served as the basal diet. The following diets were formulated by mixing 60% of the basal diet with 40% (as-fed basis) of cassava blend with B1 containing 100% cassava meal, B2 containing 90% cassava meal (CM) and 10% cassava foliage (CF), and B3 containing 80% CM, and 20% CF. The AME and AMEn in cassava blends were determined using the difference procedure. The AME and AMEn of the B1 diet were greater (P<0.05) than the corn-soy basal diet with the B2 and B3 diets being intermediate. On both fed and DM basis, there were no significant differences in the AME and AMEn of cassava blends determined in Darag roosters. On both DM basis, the AME and AMEn of cassava blend (B3) were 3,071 and 3,025 kcal/kg, respectively. For Exp. 2, 32 Darag roosters were randomly allotted to one of four experimental treatments following a randomized complete block design. There were eight replicates per treatment. Dietary treatments were a corn-soybean meal based diet, diet with 50% CM:CF blend with no amino acid supplementation, diet with 50% CM:CF blend with amino acid supplementation, and a diet with 60% CM:CF blend with amino acid supplementation. The CM:CF blend used in this experiment was B3. There were no significant differences in the birds' body weight and overall ADG. Darag roosters fed with the 50% cassava blend diet had lower (P<0.01) excreta quality scores on days 7, 14, and 21 of the experiment than those fed the corn-soy diet. On day 21, Darag roosters fed the 50% cassava blend with AA supplementation had better (P=0.01) scores for intestinal droppings. There were no significant differences in carcass characteristics between the treatments. Absolute and relative weights of the liver of birds fed the diet with 60% cassava blend were heavier (P<0.05) than those fed with the diet containing 50% cassava blend. The results of the present study reveal the potential of cassava-based diets as an effective replacement for the corn-soybean meal fed to native chickens. With this, it is suggested that various combinations and/or proportions of cassava parts and cassava by-products with the addition of amino acids be used in future experiments to validate current results.