Chronicle Editor
Sipho Nkosi, Correspondent
A NUMBER of people in the countryside are into poultry production. In fact, families in villages across the continent have a culture of keeping chickens as a rich source of protein to counter diet deficiency in children.
Research has it that stunted growth is a problem that affects roughly 33 to 40 percent of all children in Southern Africa and the main culprit is a lack of protein in daily diet. The good news is that the solution is right at the doorstep of many families, it may be running around in the backyard and may be the family’s morning alarm.
The village chicken also known as the road runner is a resource that our ancestors utilised and that we need to utilise more than we did before.
The village chickens are relatively easy and cheap to keep. These chickens can scavenge for their own feed and are generally hardy and can withstand adverse weather conditions.
As such, village chickens are kept in most rural households in Zimbabwe.
They play an important role in food security providing meat, eggs, manure as well as income for the rural population. However, their potential is not fully exploited and general productivity is low. Although genetics play a role, management including nutrition contribute to low productivity. This article explores how output can be improved through nutritional intervention.
Nutritional intervention through supplementation is key to improved productivity. This is due to the fact that scavenging may not provide all the essential nutrients and adequate amount of feed needed for good growth.
Nutrient availability on the scavengeable feed resource base varies depending on time of the season. During the rainy season the scavengeable feed resources may be rich in protein owing to the presence of worms and other insects.
Protein quality and composition tend to deteriorate as the season progresses towards the dry season. In the late dry season even the energy content of the scavengeable feed resource may be very low.
In today’s market, road runner feed is widely available but the question is, how many village farmers can afford the commercial feed? This article will discuss locally available feed resources that can be utilised by farmers.
A look at possible energy supplements Sorghum — sorghum is an energy rich crop. The crop is also drought tolerant and it has many different varieties. When feeding poultry, sorghum can be fed whole, that is without grinding.
However dark varieties of sorghum contain tannins which reduce digestibility. Tannins are anti-nutritional factors.
Anti-nutritional factors can be defined as components found in plant feed material that lower nutrient use, digestion and food uptake.
Millet — millet is also a good energy crop grown locally. As a drought tolerant crop, it can be grown in the semi- arid regions of Zimbabwe. For feeding poultry millet can be given whole without grinding. Maize by-products from mealie-meal also provide energy.
Other energy alternatives include kitchen waste, grasses, barley and wheat when available. When in abundance another possible energy source is the sweet potato, it however, has to be boiled before it can be offered to chickens as the crop is prone to fungal attack during storage.
Possible protein supplements
Sunflower — sunflower seeds provide protein, the seed can be fed whole. However, the hulls contain high fibre reducing digestibility. Dehulled sunflower is more digestible and is very rich in protein.
Maggots — Yes, you read correctly! The larva from flies (the common house-fly) is a very good protein source for poultry. Some readers may not find this appealing but the advantage of using maggots is that anyone can breed the maggots with very little resources on their farm and get a very good cheap protein supplement for their village chicken. The author will dedicate a full article to maggot breeding.
Farmers could use earthworms and termites as feed in their village chicken production. Animal protein sources are generally superior to plant protein sources in quantity and quality of protein.
Using simple techniques such as heaping plant material on the ground will attract insects and termites which can be consumed by village chickens. Earthworms on the other hand, are attracted to moist areas, therefore by creating such an area one can encourage a good breeding ground for earthworms.
Bottle gourds seeds/amakhomane — Ever looked at your bottle gourds helplessly as they dry up in the field because you could not consume them fast enough while fresh. Well, the good news is that you can utilise the seeds in poultry diets. The dehulled seed is very rich in protein.
The seed hulls are high in fibre and reduce digestibility. Care should be taken with this crop however. This is because there are reports of anti-nutritional factors on other crops of the same family (cucurbitaceae). The seeds should therefore be heat roasted first before they are offered to chickens. Additionally, wild bitter varieties of this crop should not be used.
Starting from household of the communal and urban farmer we can increase our production of the village chicken and get that needed much need protein on our tables.
About the author: Sipho Nkosi is an early career animal scientist with special interest in poultry production and animal welfare.
Online Reporter