Goitom Ashgedom

Ane Skjelfjord

Abstract fra avhandlingen

Supplementation of locally produced sun-dried fishmeal to farm animals in Eritrea / Bruk av lokalt produsert soltørket fiskemel til husdyr i Eritrea

Shortage of protein supplements is a major constraint hampering animal production in Eritrea. Locally produced fishmeal prepared by simple sun-drying and grinding of fish waste and by-catch fish was evaluated by chemical analysis and feeding trials to assess its value as a protein supplement for livestock and poultry. The fishmeal had a crude protein, ether extract, calcium and phosphorous content of 56.6, 6.5, 9.3 and 2.6% respectively, on a dry matter basis. It had a good keeping quality and was palatable to animals.

Trials were carried out using the fishmeal as a supplement to existing diets of layer hens, starter chicks, weaner pigs and lactating cows. Inclusion of fishmeal at a level of 4.76 % by weight to a diet of layer hens consisting of sorghum, wheat middlings, maize, and meat and bone meal significantly increased feed intake, egg production and egg weight. Feed intake and body weight gain of starter White Leghorn chicks fed on the same basal diet used for the layers was significantly increased while mortality was reduced by supplementation of 13 % fishmeal by weight. Supplementing weaner pigs fed on a diet based on bakery waste, wheat middlings and wheat bran with 90 g of fishmeal per pig per day significantly increased weight gain. The unsupplemented diets (control diets) of the poultry and pigs contained low levels of protein with a severe amino acid imbalance. Inclusion of fishmeal in the diets increased the protein content and improved the amino acid balance, particularly that of lysine and methionine, thus leading to improvement in the performance of the poultry and pigs. In all the trials, the extra financial gain due to fishmeal inclusion was higher than the extra cost of fishmeal. A hundred gram of fishmeal supplement per cow per day to a basal diet of Holstein-Friesian cows made up of fresh alfalfa, fodder maize, grass hay, flourmill by-products and wet brewers’ grains resulted in an extra 0.85 kg of milk compared to the unsupplemented cows. However, higher levels of supplementation at 200 and 300 g did not further increase milk yield possibly because of the high content of protein in the unsupplemented diet. It was economically advantageous to supplement cows with 100 g of fishmeal per day while there was no economic gain at the higher levels.

Key words: Fishmeal; Eritrea; Supplementation; Layers; Chicks; Weaner Pigs; Cows

Oppdatert: 29.12.04
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