Ojedele, O.
Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 7267, Umudike, Abia State
Adama, J. C.
Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 7267, Umudike, Abia State
Opurum, E.
Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 7267, Umudike, Abia State
ABSTRACT
Poultry needs to be
protected from harsh environmental condition such as heat, rainfall, direct
sunlight, and dangerous wind by placing it under good housing, structures and
facilities, in order to get the best performance and output from the birds. The
structures and facilities of five poultry farms in Isiala-Ngwa South Local
Government Area of Abia State, were assessed for their effectiveness in poultry
farming. The poultry farm names are Good Seed, Buchi, Pelmate, Amenchim
Integrated and Ugwuma poultry farms. The observed structures and facilities
were compared with approved standard from relevant literature. It was observed
that only Pelmate farm chlorinated its drinking water, thereby, made it less
susceptible to disease attack, in comparison with the birds in Good Seed,
Buchi, Amenchim Integrated and Ugwuma poultry farms respectively, which could
easily be attacked by disease, because their drinking water are not
chlorinated; closeness of the poultry buildings; lack of footbath; no
protective clothing and shoes respectively. Wood shaving as bedding material,
roof design and stocking density needed further improvement in the five poultry
farms. In the building design, the height of building of Ugwuma farm with 2.1m
needed further improvement for good ventilation. Only Buchi and Amenchim
poultry farms with 2 and 5 birds/m2, respectively followed the recommended
stocking density of 6 birds/m2 for broilers. On the other hand, it was only
Good-Seed farm with 9birds/m2 for layers exceeded the recommended value of
8birds/m2 according to FAO. Therefore, poultry farms in Isiala-Ngwa South Local
Government Area of Abia State needed to be improved upon in terms of planning
and design of poultry structures and facilities for its maximum utilization in
poultry farming.
Keywords: Poultry, Structures, Stocking density, Farms, Footbath
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Published
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Issue
Vol. 3 No. 1, JUNE 2017
Article Section
GENERAL
The contents of the articles are the sole opinion of the author(s) and not of UJET.
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