How do you enhance egg yolk color and skin pigmentation of poultry when using cassava-based rations?
Cassava contains no pigment and the diet may cause pale egg yolk of the poultry. Cassava diets must be supplemented with sources of pigment such as ipil-ipil leaf meal, marigold meal or synthetic pigments in order to color the yolk and skin according to the requirements of the consumers. The required supplementation is approximately 30 mg of xanthophyll/kg of diet. What are the nutritional characteristics of cassava? Does this make cassava comparable with the energy content of grains? Dr. Reas reveals that cassava root is an excellent source of energy due to its high carbohydrate content, with an average digestible energy (DE) of 1415 MJ/kg (3,300-3,400 kcal/kg). This makes cassava meal comparable with the energy content of grains. Are cassava meals similar also to cereals in terms of dry matter digestibility? Recent experiments cited by Dr. Reas show that cassava meals have an average dry matter digestibility of 75% and therefore, these are similar to cereals. What are the advantages
