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Asian Journal of Animal Sciences

Year: 2011 | Volume: 5 | Issue: 2 | Page No.: 127-135
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Authors

L. Bratte

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Research Article

Effects of Partial Replacement of Dietary Maize with African Pear (Dacryodes edulis) Seed Meal on Performance, Nutrient Digestibility and Retention of Broiler Chickens in the Humid Tropics

L. Bratte
This study was aimed at determining the effects of partially replacing dietary maize with Dacryodes edulis seed meal on growth performance, feed consumption, mortality and nutrient digestibility and retention in broiler chickens and the cost benefit of so doing. Two hundred and 225 day old anak broilers were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments of 45 birds per treatment in which Dacryodes edulis Seed Meal (DESM) replaced maize at 0% (control), 15, 30, 45 and 60% levels in the diets fed at the starter (0-28 days) and finisher (29-56 days) phases of production. The birds in each treatment were further divided into three replicates of 15 birds each and provided the feed and water ad libitum. The performance records of the birds in terms of body weight gains and feed intake showed that while the chicks tolerated up to 60% level of maize replacement with DESM in their diets, growth in the finishing birds was significantly depressed at the upper levels of DESM inclusion. Highest mortality (11.11%) occurred only during the starter phase (0-28 days) in broilers that received 30% dietary DESM. Dry matter and crude fibre digestibility and nitrogen and fat retention generally decreased significantly with increasing levels of dietary DESM. Moreover, from an economic point of view, it was more profitable to utilize DESM at the upper levels of maize replacement (45 and 60%) in starter diets, but at not more than 30% in finisher diets.
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