Evaluation of a soya bean-maize broiler feed prepared on-farm.

Thesis (M. Tech. Agriculture, Tshwane University of Technology, 2011.To increase local growth linkages of smallholder broiler enterprises in rural areas a single-phase, on-farm processed, mash diet, consisting of boiled and ground full-fat soya beans and ground yellow maize grain fortified with lysine, methionine and selected mineral nutrients was first developed and then tested. Financial analysis showed that net operating expenses of broiler enterprises that used the experimental diet were higher than those of similar enterprises using the control diet, but differences in net operating income were only significant in one of the two runs of the experiment. The main economic benefit of using the experimental diet was the added value to the local economy, which increased from 20 % of the retail value of broiler chickens in the case of enterprises using the control diet to 70 % when using the experimental diet