Volume 7, Issue 3, March – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology ISSN No:-2456-2165 IJISRT22MAR252 www.ijisrt.com 377 Economics of Production of Broiler Chickens Fed Cassava Peel Leaf Meal (Ratio 9:1) Mix as Replacement for Maize Janet Chinwe Olowoyeye Department of Agricultural Science and Technology, Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science, and Technology, Ikere, Ekiti State Abstract:- This study examined the replacement value of maize using varying levels of cassava peel-leaf meal mixed in the ratio of 9:1 on the economic indicators. Three hundred (300) day old Marshall breed birds replicated5 times in a completely randomized design, 10 birds per replicate were allocated to one of six dietary treatments and maintained for 42 days.Both the growth parameters and the Cost-Return analysis were determined to find out the profitability of the test diets as compared to the control diet. Results show that the Total Costs (TC) decreased from ₦899.18 in the control diet to ₦844.31 in diet 6. The Gross Margin was found to decrease from ₦699.68 in diet 1 to ₦402.55 in diet 6 while the values of ₦0.80 in diet 1 to ₦0.49 in diet 6 was computed as returns per naira invested in the enterprise. Keywords:- Economics, Production, Broiler Chickens, Cassava Peel-leaf meal. I. INTRODUCTION Protein – Energy Malnutrition (PEM) continues to be a serious public health issue in many developing nations, and there is a need to boost daily protein consumption, particularly animal protein (Unigwe et al, 2014). In emerging nations, the demand for animal-based diets has been steadily increasing (Thornton, 2010). For several reasons, broiler production has been highlighted as one of the quickest and simplest ways to tackle this issue (Nworgu et al., 2000, Dipeolu et al., 1996; Larry 1993), due to their abundance, high feed conversion ratio, and universal acceptance. Many people in developing world, such as Nigeria, see poultry goods (chicken and eggs) as a luxury. The high cost of poultry meat and eggs is largely due to the high cost of traditional animal feeds. As a consequence of the high cost of conventional feed components including maize, soyabean, millet, wheat, and groundnut cake, poultry researchers are scrambling to find more affordable and easily accessible indigenous feedstuffs. There should be an emphasis on developing diets that are less expensive while yet providing the necessary nutrients without affecting the body's physiological health.Animal-derived foods are also an efficient and compact source of immediately accessible micronutrients, according to Neumann and Harris (1999), who found that the protein and energy they provide are of excellent quality and rapidly digested. Demand for protein and energy-rich feed components will grow as animal protein output rises. In order to meet the energy requirements of poultry, maize is one of the most popular and often utilized elements in poultry diets. However, competition for maize between man and animals has made it to become an expensive component of animal feeds thereby leading a subsequent hike in the price of animal products production and then making them unavailable on the dining table of an average Nigerian (Okorie et al., 2011). Therefore, it is vital to lower the cost of feedstock in order to generate lower-cost goods without compromising profit margins (Adeyemi et al., 2014; Chauynaronget al., 2009).Recent studies have shown that the use of agro- industrial by-products can reduce the cost of producing poultry (Ogunsipe et al., 2015). This study therefore used cassava peels mixed with cassava leaves as a replacement ingredient for maize as an alternativefeed component for broilers. II. MATERIALS AND METHODS A. Experimental site The research was conducted at the Federal University of Technology, Akure's Teaching and Research Farm. The research area is situated Latitude 7 0 15 1 north of the equator and Longitude 5 0 15 1 east of Greenwich Meridian. A typical yearly temperature of 22 degrees Celsius is recorded at an elevation of around 370 meters above sea level (Ajibefun, 2011). ” B. Experimental diets Cassava processing cottage industries in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria's provided the fresh cassava peels which weresun-dried, ground, and stored, while Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science, and Technology's Teaching and Research farm provided the cassava leaves which were sundriedfor five days and milled. A 9:1 mixture of milled cassava peel and leaf meal was then created by combining the two. The experiment used 300 Marshall Breed broiler chicks that were one day old. Chicks were given a commercial (CP: 23%; ME: 3200kcal/kg) meal for the first week of the pre-experiment period. In order to achieve the NRC (1994) minimum need for each phase, six experimental diets were developed, both for the starter and for the finisher. It was established that diets 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 had maize substituted with cassava peel-leaf- meal (9:1) mix at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 %, whereas diet 1 was the control. During the finisher phase, the same formulation process was used. The diets were all carefully mixed together. Table 1 shows the starter diet's gross composition, whereas Table 2 shows the finisher diet's gross composition.