Further assessment of scavenging feed resource base

The scavenging feed resource base (SFRB) was estimated in four villages located in a rainforest ecozone in Nigeria. The average SFRB estimated for the villages was 110 kg dry weight/family flock/year. Productivity of the birds in the villages was low. A low survivability of chicks was detected indicating a lot of wastage of eggs that could have been used for human consumption. The SFRB was low in nutritive value with less than 2 g crude protein (CP) available to each bird daily. To more quantitatively describe the SFRB, the concept of using bird unit in determining what is available to each bird is suggested. This helped in evaluating at first glance the differential accessibility of each class of bird to the SFRB and assisted in strategic supplementation of the SFRB. The use of predictors of the SFRB could help in establishing prediction equation which would help in predicting the carrying capacity of the SFRB and in determining the optimum flock biomass more accurately. (author)