Berlin, Freie Univ., Diss., 2002. / Dateiformat: zip, Dateien im PDF-Format. Computerdatei im Fernzugriff.

Berlin, Freie Univ., Diss., 2002. / Dateiformat: zip, Dateien im PDF-Format. Computerdatei im Fernzugriff.

Berlin, Freie Universiẗat, Diss., 2002. / Dateiformat: zip, Dateien im PDF-Format.

Göttingen, Univ., Diss., 2001. / Computerdatei im Fernzugriff.

Göttingen, Univ., Diss., 2001. / Computerdatei im Fernzugriff.

Göttingen, Universiẗat, Diss., 2001.

Zugl.: Berlin, Freie Universiẗat, Diss., 2008.

M.Tech.

High feed costs are part of any broiler rearing enterprise and continuous effort is required to help overcome this problem. The use of a feed expander may be beneficial in improving bird performance and thus increasing the profitability of broiler meat production. Four experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of birds fed expanded feed in relation to the performance of birds fed non-expanded feed. The effect of feeding birds expanded feed was also tested under heat stress conditions. In this experiment, a significant improvement in cumulative feed conversion ratio (CFCR) was observed for birds fed expanded feed (Chapter 3). Pellet size influenced bird performance as birds fed a 3.2 mm non-expanded feed had a better cumulative FCR than the non-expanded 4.5 mm pellets, and this CFCR did not differ significantly from that in birds fed 3.2 mm expanded pellets (Chapter 4). There is, however, an improvement in the cumulative FCR to two weeks of age in birds fed expanded feed, over that in birds fed non-expanded feed, indicating that expanding of feed improves nutrient availability to the young broiler with a partially developed digestive tract. The effects of expanding feed on the body weight of birds were not consistent between experiments. This might be attributed to expanding temperature, as the feed in Chapters 3 and 4 was expanded at 90°C and not at higher temperatures as in the other chapters. Expanding feed at 90°C may not allow proper starch gelatinisation and alteration of nutrient availability. Expanded feed had better pellet durability than non-expanded feed and there were no significant negative effects on vitamin recovery, enzyme stability and nutrients when feed was expanded at temperatures between 95 and 1 05°C. Pellet quality increased with an increase in expanding temperature. Expanding of broiler feed led to a significant improvement in lipid digestibility (Chapter 6). Expanding of feed at 105°C is recommended as feed expanded at this temperatures tend to have significantly higher AMEn values for broilers than non-expanded feed. / Dissertation (MSc(Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Animal and Wildlife Sciences / unrestricted

Thesis (M.Sc. (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / Food insecurity and hunger problems have received considerable attention in recent years from research experts and governments worldwide. The most important nutrients in food security are proteins, especially animal proteins. Previous studies have indicated that poultry production is the strategic source of animal protein because of its fecundity, fast growth rate and short generation interval. The poultry production sector consists of broiler and layers subsector. In South Africa, broiler production is practised by both large-scale and smallholder farmers; with the former dominating the retail and urban markets. Smallholder broiler farmers on the other hand, produce for local individuals and do not have access to high value chain markets. There are several studies on broiler value chain countrywide and on broiler resource-use efficiency in many developing countries. However, most researchers have not focused on smallholder broiler farmers despite the fact that they provide cheaper broiler meat to the majority of low income rural populations. Thus, this study analysed the broiler value chain and socio-economic factors that contribute to resource-use efficiency of smallholder broiler farmers in general in the Capricorn District of Limpopo Province. Stochastic Frontier Production Function was used to identify the socio-economic characteristics that contribute to broiler production and to determine the level of resource-use efficiency by smallholder farmers. Value chain analysis (VCA) was used to identify value chain actors and the position of smallholder broiler farmers along the value chain. Descriptive statistic results revealed that most smallholder broiler farmers are mostly female (79%) and more than 65 % are over the age of 31. The broiler input cost analysis indicated that feed cost contributed the highest expenditure (60%) in smallholder broiler production. Socio-economic factors such as educational level, experience in broiler production, access to credit, gender, access to transport, and age, were significant at different levels and therefore affect broiler production by smallholder farmers. The study also found that farmers in the study area were underutilising their resources with resource-use efficiency varying from 97% to 8%. Several constraints that v prevent smallholder broiler farmers from accessing the high value chain markets were identified. On the basis of the findings, it is recommended in this study that efforts be made to incentivise younger and energetic farmers to participate in broiler farming, government and the private sector should invest in research in order to establish alternative cheaper feeds to help reduce overall production costs, and the need for improved access to credit in order to enhance the working capital of farmers. Furthermore, the establishment of information sharing marketing cooperatives, slaughtering, processing and packaging facilities for smallholder broiler farmers in the study area will improve access to high value chain markets.