Effects of Replacing Fishmeal with Poultry Offal Meal and Crayfish Waste Meal on Laying Performance and Egg Quality

The reported high cost of feed is linked to reliance on conventional feed resources. Fish meal has been relied upon for long as a source of dietary animal protein largely because of its balanced amino acid profile. In this study which lasted for 13 weeks, one hundred and eighty black harco pullets were used for the study in a completely randomised design. The average weight gain ranged between 0.09kg in chickens fed diets II (100%POM) and VI (100%CWM) and 0.11kg in those fed diets V (25%POM;75%CWM) and control (100%FM) respectively. There were no significant differences (p.>0.05) between the treatment means. Similarly, the dry matter intake were not significantly (p.>0.05) different. The least intake (0.75kg) was recorded by diet II chickens (100%POM) while those fed 100%CWM consumed most (0.78kg). The Hen day production (%) ranged between 91.15 in chickens fed control diet (100%FM) and 88.16 in treatment IV chickens (50%POM; 50%CWM). No significant differences (p.>0.05) were observed between treatment means. The egg weight recorded significant differences (p.<0.05) between the control chickens (55.49g) and those fed diet IV (50%POM;50%CWM) which weighed 53.88grammes. There were no significant differences in the mean values obtained for most of the performance characteristics among treatment means and the hen-day production falls within the range reported in the tropics