American Journal of Food Technology
Year: 2008 | Volume: 3 | Issue: 1 | Page No.: 42 - 49
Effect of Dietary Levels of Cooked Lablab purpureus Beans on the Performance of Broiler Chickens
F.O. Abeke, S.O. Ogundipe, A.A. Sekoni, I.A. Adeyinka, O.O. Oni, A. Abeke and I.I. Dafwang
Abstract
A study was conducted to determine the response of broiler starter and
finisher chicks to dietary levels of Lablab purpureus beans processed
by boiling in water for 30 min at 100 °C. For both the starter and
the finisher phases, seven isonitrogenous diets containing 23.78% crude
protein for the starter and 20.91% crude protein for the finisher were
formulated to contain lablab seed meal at 0.0, 5.0, 10.0, 15.0, 20.0,
25.0 and 30.0% levels respectively. Diet 1, in each phase had no lablab
and served as the control. Each dietary treatment for the starter and
the finisher phases was replicated three times in a completely randomized
design. There were 25 birds per replicate. Feed and water were given ad
libitum. The experiment lasted from 0 to 4 weeks for the starter phase
and from 5 to 8 weeks for the finisher phase. Results obtained for the
starter phase shows significant (p<0.05) depression in final weight,
weight gain, feed intake, feed efficiency and feed-gain ratio. These parameters
decreased as the level of lablab seeds in the diets increased. However,
feed cost (
/kg
feed and /bird)
were significantly (p<0.05) reduced as the level of lablab seed meal
increased in the starter diets. The results obtained for the finisher
phase also showed a similar trend. While there were significant (p<0.05)
decreases in final weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed efficiency
as the level of lablab seed meal increased in the diets, feed cost (/kg
feed and /bird)
were significantly (p<0.05) lowered. Parameters measured for carcass
analysis such as live weight and weights of the breast, thigh, wing, neck,
legs and head showed a significant (p<0.05) decrease as the dietary
levels of lablab seed meal increased. The PCV, Hb and the TP status of
the blood indicated significant (p<0.05) decreases as the levels of
lablab in the diets increased. However, Lablab purpureus beans
can be included up to 5% level in broiler starter and up to 10% level
in broiler finisher diets without any adverse effect on the performance
of the birds.