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International Journal of Agricultural Research

Year: 2007 | Volume: 2 | Issue: 12 | Page No.: 976-986
DOI: 10.3923/ijar.2007.976.986
Protein Supplementary Quality of Tropical Vegetable (Amaranthus cruentus) Leaf Meal in Broiler Starter Diets: Bionutritional Evaluation
A.O. Fasuyi, F.A.S. Dairo and A.O. Adeniji

Abstract: The fresh matured leaves of the Amaranthus cruentus plants were harvested and sun dried until a moisture content of between 12-13% was obtained. The sun dried leaves (Amaranthus cruentus leaf meal, ACLM) were milled and analysed for their proximate composition. Crude protein was 23.0±0.55; crude fat, 5.4±0.01; crude fibre, 8.8%±0.02; ash, 19.3%±0.01 and gross energy, 3.3±0.01 kcal g-1; metabolisable energy, 2.8±0.21 kcal g-1 all on dry matter basis. Methionine and to a lesser extent, lysine, arginine, leucine and aspartate were high. The ACLM was incorporated into five formulated broiler starter diets at varying inclusion levels. The control diet 1 had no ACLM inclusion. All the six diets including control diet 1 were formulated isocaloric and isonitrogenous and fed to the experimental chicks (n = 540). Birds kept on diet 2 (5% ACLM inclusion level) had the best average Weight Gain (WG) of 372.9±29.94 g chick-1 but this was statistically similar to values obtained for birds on diets 1, 3 and 4. The Feed Efficiency (FE) value and the Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) for birds on diet 2 were similar (p>0.05) to values obtained for the reference diet. The Nitrogen Retention (NR) and Apparent Nitrogen Digestibility (AND) values obtained for diet 2 were highest at 1.48±0.24 gN chick-1 day-1 and 63.12%±10.28, respectively. Except for dressed weight and the back of chicken all the organs weights taken were similar (p>0.05). Haematological results were similar (p>0.05). Results generally indicated that ACLM could be a useful dietary protein source for broiler starter chicks at 5% inclusion level.

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How to cite this article
A.O. Fasuyi, F.A.S. Dairo and A.O. Adeniji, 2007. Protein Supplementary Quality of Tropical Vegetable (Amaranthus cruentus) Leaf Meal in Broiler Starter Diets: Bionutritional Evaluation. International Journal of Agricultural Research, 2: 976-986.

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