EFFECTS OF FEEDING PROCESSED CASTOR (Ricinuscommunis)SEEDS AND CAKE MEALSON THE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF BROILER CHICKENS

📄 Project Abstract

One of the challenges facing Nigerian livestock industry today is the high cost of conventional feedstuff used in compounding animal feeds.The conventional or primary protein sources like soya bean, groundnut cake, fish meal and cotton seed cake are not only expensive but also competed for by humans and other industrial users(Akinmutimi, 2001). The increasing cost of these ingredients is unprecedented. The importance of utilizing cheaper non-conventional feedstuffs has been emphasized. The non-conventional feedstuff considered in this study is castor seeds and castor seed cake (obtained after oil extraction). The effort to use castor seed and the cake, if successful, may reduce the cost of feed production and subsequently that of animal production in general and may increase the production of the livestock sector of Nigerian Agriculture (Annongu and Joseph, 2008). Castor seed and castor seed cake are obtained from castor oil plant (Ricinus communis L). It is an angiosperm that belongs ...