Investigation into Value-Addition to Post-Agricultural Produce Waste into Feed for a Sustainable Livestock Development in Nigeria
Livestock feed deficits are one of the challenges being faced by the livestock industry in Nigeria as a result of heavy reliance on imported feed ingredients. This work, therefore, evaluates the potential of rice husk and corn stover wastes as alternative feed resources through microbial fermentation and enzymatic techniques. There was an increase in the crude protein in corn stover from 5.2 % (control) to 7.6 % and 8.1 %, and a reduction in the fiber content from 36 % to 29.5 % and 27.8 % for the fermented and enzymatic treatments, respectively, from the proximate analysis results obtained. While there was an increase in digestibility from 42 % to 65 % (fermentation treatment) and 68 % (enzymatic treatment), the rice husk protein content was improved from 3.1 % to 4.4 % (fermented) and 4.9 % (enzyme-treated), with digestibility rising from 35 % to 54 % and 57 %. The feeding trials using local goats showed that fermentation and enzyme-treated diets enhanced average daily gain by 62-65 g/day compared with the control at 48 g/day, indicating that feed conversion ratios were enhanced by 8.6-8.7 when compared to the control with 10.5; however, there was no mortality rate was observed in the three treatments.
Keywords: Agricultural waste, enzymatic treatment, fermentation, sustainable livestock
