The Waste in Your Farm Could Be Cutting Your Feed Bill

Folalumi Alaran in Abuja

Every year, Nigeria generates an estimated 288,000 tonnes of groundnut husk and most of it ends up as waste. For an early-career biochemist researcher named Jane Ibude, that number was not just an environmental footnote. It was a question: what if this overlooked by-product could help solve one of the most stubborn problems in Nigerian poultry farming?

That question became the foundation of a peer-reviewed study Ibude co-authored, Evaluation of Arachis hypogaea Husk Diet in the Growth and Performance of Poultry Birds, published in the Asian Journal of Animal Sciences. The research, which she undertook alongside colleagues in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Port Harcourt while completing her bachelor’s degree, set out to test whether properly processed groundnut husk could serve as a viable and affordable supplement to commercial poultry feed.

“Groundnut husk is something we see everywhere, especially in farming communities, but it is largely underutilized,” Ibude said. “The research question was straightforward: can this material, which farmers are literally throwing away, be put to work reducing feed costs without harming the birds?”

Feed accounts for between 60 and 75 percent of the cost of raising commercial poultry in Nigeria, and the continuous rise in feed prices has put sustained pressure on small and medium-scale farmers, threatening both their livelihoods and the country’s broader poultry value chain. For Ibude, finding a locally available, low-cost supplement that actually worked was not an academic exercise. It was a practical response to a crisis playing out in farming communities across the country.

The study used 81 four-week-old broiler chickens, divided into nine groups of nine birds each and monitored over a 21-day feeding period. Each group received a different combination of commercial feed mixed with raw, roasted, or boiled groundnut husk, at varying concentrations, allowing the researchers to test not just whether groundnut husk could work, but which processing method and what proportion delivered the best results.

“The idea was to evaluate not just whether groundnut husk can be used, but how best it should be processed and included in feed for optimal performance,” Ibude explained. “Processing method matters enormously, and that was something we wanted to demonstrate clearly.”

Boiled groundnut husk outperformed both raw and roasted forms across multiple measures. It recorded the highest energy value at 1,249.99 kJ per 100g, the lowest levels of antinutritional factors that interfere with nutrient absorption, and the best overall proximate composition. Roasted husk, by contrast, recorded significantly elevated levels of hydrocyanic acid, a concern for bird health at higher concentrations.

“Boiling helps to break down compounds that can hinder nutrient absorption. That is why birds fed with boiled husk performed better in terms of growth,” Ibude said. “The science behind it is straightforward, but seeing it confirmed in the birds’ weight data was encouraging.”

In terms of weight gain, birds fed a diet of 30% raw groundnut husk combined with 70% commercial feed, as well as those receiving a mixed blend of all three forms at 30% alongside 70% commercial feed, showed consistent and significant weight increases over the feeding period. Birds fed 60% boiled husk with 40% commercial feed also demonstrated notable gains, particularly from the second week onward. Groups fed higher proportions of roasted husk at both 30% and 60% inclusion rates showed no significant weight gain throughout the trial.

Ibude was careful to frame the findings accurately, cautioning against over-interpreting the results as a case for abandoning commercial feed entirely. Groundnut husk, she noted, is high in fiber but relatively low in protein, which means its value lies in supplementation, not substitution.

“It is important to understand that groundnut husk works best as a supplement, not a complete substitute for standard poultry feed,” she said. “Farmers must ensure proper processing, drying, boiling, and grinding, and maintain the right balance with commercial feed to meet the birds’ nutritional needs. Improper use, particularly feeding birds large quantities of raw or unprocessed husk, could negatively affect growth and health.”

The study also included bacteriological analysis of the birds’ droppings, which found that supplementing feed with groundnut husk did not raise significant pathogenic concerns across most groups. However, the group fed 60% boiled husk and 40% commercial feed showed elevated bacterial counts, which the researchers attributed to possible contamination during boiling, underscoring the importance of hygienic preparation.

Beyond the direct cost savings for farmers, Ibude pointed to a broader environmental dimension that the research opens up. Nigeria, as one of the world’s top three groundnut producers, generates vast quantities of husk as a by-product of processing. Converting that waste into a productive agricultural input, she argued, is a straightforward win on two fronts.

“This is a win-win situation. Farmers save money and, at the same time, we reduce the volume of agricultural waste going back into the environment,” she said. “That kind of dual benefit is exactly what practical research in this space should be aiming for.”

For Ibude, one of the most significant challenges the study highlighted was not scientific but communicative, the gap between what research demonstrates and what farmers know and practice. Many smallholder poultry farmers, she noted, remain unaware that findings of this kind exist, let alone how to apply them safely.

“There is a gap between research and practice that we cannot afford to ignore,” she said. “The science is there. What is missing is the bridge to the training, the extension services, the practical guidance that gets this information from a journal into the hands of a farmer in Kebbi or Rivers State who could actually use it tomorrow.”

She called on agricultural extension services, government agencies, and research institutions to scale up training and knowledge-transfer programs around alternative feed formulations and to treat the translation of research findings into accessible, farmer-friendly guidance as a priority, not an afterthought.

“Feed accounts for the majority of poultry production costs. Even modest, well-informed reductions in that cost can make a real difference to a farmer’s bottom line and to their ability to stay in business,” Ibude said. “If locally available materials like groundnut husk can help achieve that, and our research suggests they can, then getting that knowledge to farmers is not optional. It is part of what research is for.”

The study — Evaluation of Arachis hypogaea Husk Diet in the Growth and Performance of Poultry Birds — was published in the Asian Journal of Animal Sciences (Vol. 15, 2021) and was co-authored by J.A. Ibude, C.C. Chukwuma and A.A. Uwakwe of the Department of Biochemistry, University of Port Harcourt.