POTENTIAL OF Entada africana Guill. & Perr. SEED MEAL AS FEED INGREDIENT IN THE DIET OF BROILER CHICKENS

Abstract

Background. The demand and cost of feed ingredients for broiler chicken production have increased in many African countries. This has necessitated the search for alternative feed sources. Objective. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of graded levels of Entada africana seed meal (EASM) on growth performance, carcass characteristics and organ weight of broiler chickens. Methodology. A total of 150 day-old broiler chicks were randomly allocated to five experimental diets formulated to contain 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% EASM and designated as T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. There were 30 birds in each treatment which was replicated three (3) times with ten (10) birds per pen in a completely randomized design. Throughout the experimental period, feed and water were provided ad libitum for all treatment groups. Result. Average body weight gain (40.01-44.36 g/d), average feed intake (90.47-94.33 g/d) and FCR (2.09-2.33) were not influenced by dietary treatments at both starter and finisher phases of the study (P>0.05). The carcass parameters and organ weight measured across the treatment groups were similar (P>0.05) except back (14.85-17.80 %) and breast (16.45-19.87 %) weights (P<0.05). Implication. Entada africana seed is a rich source of protein that will serve as alternative feed resource in broiler feeds. Conclusion. Therefore, up to 20 % processed EASM could be included in the diets of broiler chickens without adverse effect on growth performance, carcass characteristics and organ weight of the birds.