Nutritional efficacy of fermented cocoyam mixed with tridax procumbens leaf meal on growth weight, haemoglobin content, serum biochemistry and the carcass evaluation of pigs.

The research was conducted to investigate the nutritional efficacy of fermented mixtures of cocoyam mixed with tridax procumbens leaf meal on the growth weight, haemoglobin content, serum biochemistry and the carcass evaluation of pigs. The experiment was conducted at the Swine unit of the Teaching and Research Farm, University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. Cocoyam mixed with tridax procumbens leaf meal were mixed in the ration of 3:1 and allowed to ferment in an air tight environment for six days and after that was sundried. The product was referred to as FCTPLM premix. A total of 40 grower pigs of large white were used for the study. At the end of the trial, two pigs were slaughtered to compare the internal organs such as heart, abdominal fat, spleen etc; to assess the carcass value. The results from the study shows significant (p<0.05) differences on the performance characteristics of weaner pigs, while animals on 16% diet gave the best compared to other diets in final weight gain, feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio (25.67kg, 2.06 and 2.52) respectively. There were significant differences (P>0.05) on the carcass evaluation of the pigs. There were no significant different (P>0.05) found among haemoglobin content, pack cell volume and red blood cells. It was concluded that FCTPM premix could completely replace maize without adversely affecting the overall growth performance of the pigs. Implications and recommendations were made from the findings of the study.