[Production of cassava whole meal (N. esculenta Crantz) to prepare a feed for growing chicks. I. Chemical and nutritive characterization of leaves, roots and cassava whole meal]. / Elaboración de una harina integral de yuca (N. esculenta Crantz) para alimentación de pollitos de engorde. I. Caracterización químico-nutrimental de hojas, raíces y harina integral de yuca.

Cassava roots are frequently used as a energy source in feeds. The leaves due to their high fiber content, are not used in animal feeds despite they have a good content of protein and a balanced level of essential amino acids. The purpose of this research was to produce a cassava whole meal (CWF) with low content of fiber for using in chick feed. Leaves and roots of cassava by separated, were dried at 60 degrees C for 20 h, ground in a hammermill and passed through a 60 mesh sieve. By this procedure a root flour (CRF) and a leaves flour were obtained (CLF). The fiber content in CLF was reduced 25.8% and the protein content was increased 8.2%. The CWF was made with 61.2% of CRF and 38.8% of CLF, having a protein and fiber content of 9.15% and 9.73%, respectively. The True Metabolizable Energy of CWF was 2,454 kcal/kg with an average true bioavailability of amino acids of 68.8%.

[Production of cassava whole meal (N. esculenta Crantz) to prepare a feed for growing chicks. II. Evaluation of cassava whole meal in growing chicks]. / Elaboración de una harina integral de yuca (N. esculenta Crantz) para alimentación de pollitos de engorde. II. Evaluación de una harina integral de yuca en pollitos de engorde.

About 50% of the raw materials used for poultry feeds are constituted of sorghum as a energy source. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the nutritional quality of a cassava whole meal (CWF: 61.2% and 38.8% of root and leaf flours, respectively) for growing chicks. The sorghum was partially substituted from a basal diet by 15, 30 and 45% of CWF. Four diets based of sorghum, soybean meal and CWF were formulated. Levels of 0.0, 8.6, 16.4 and 23.7% of CWF were included in the diets. White Vantress chicks (96) were used in the nutritional experiment during 28 days. Each treatment was assayed with 24 chicks. The diet containing 23.7% of CWF showed the lower weight gain and feed efficiency (p < 0.05) as compared with the other diets, and the liver/ bird weight relation increased directly with the increment of CWF.