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Twenty five Yankasa rams with average weight of 16.76±0.24kg were used to study the effect of replacing Cotton
Seed Cake (CSC) with broiler litter on ruminant performance. Five rams each were randomly assigned to five
treatments in a Completely Randomized Design. The concentrate diets contained broiler litter (BL) at 0, 10, 20, 30
and 40% in replacement for CSC. The diet was offered at 1.8% of body weight while Maize Husk (MH) was fed ad
libitum. Growth study, metabolism trial, rumen studies and economic analysis were conducted. The proximate
analysis indicated that BL had 926.60, 273.00, 110.00, 24.30, 160.20 and 387.00gkg-1 of DM, CP, CF, EE, Ash and
NFE respectively while maize husk had 922.10DM, 25.70CP, 320.20CF, 9.60EE, 38.80Ash and 601.57gkg-1NFE.
The broiler litter and maize husk metebolizable energy were 10.58 and 10.67 MJ/kgDM respectively. Rams on the
broiler litter diets showed better weight gain, final weight and feed cost per kg gain with 30 % inclusion level having
the best performance. Rumen pH varied slightly across treatments but remained within normal range. It is
recommended that BL can be included in the diets of ruminants up to 30% without adverse effect on performance.
This will reduce cost of production and increase farmer’s income.
Keywords: Yankasa rams, broiler litter, cottonseed cake, maize husk