The Effects of Tropical Feedingstuffs on Growth and First Year Egg Production

FEED costs are the greatest single item of expenditure in the production of eggs particularly in tropical countries where labour is cheap and where the climatic conditions demand no more than simple, inexpensive housing for the birds. The profitability of a poultry enterprise under these conditions would therefore depend very largely on the extent to which feed costs could be reduced. Most tropical countries are fortunate in that oil cakes or oil meals of one sort or another are generally produced locally and thus provide a cheap source of protein. In consequence, it is generally much easier to compound high protein diets for livestock in the tropics than diets with a wide nutritive ratio. In Ceylon, coconut meal is available at very low cost and forms the basis of most concentrate mixtures for livestock. On the other hand, cereals are often difficult to obtain for animal feeding in most …