Utilization Of Rubber Seed Meal As A Protein Supplement In Broiler Finisher Rations.

Abstract

A feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the performance of finisher broiler chicks fed diets containing different levels of partially defatted rubber seed meal as a replacement for roundnut cake. Four isocaloric and iso-nitrogenous diets (A, B, C and D) were formulated using groundnut cake (GNC) as the reference protein source; and 10, 15 and 20% of the GNC in the control diet (A) were replaced with rubber seed meal (RSM) in rations B, C and D, respectively. No significant differences (P>0.05) were observed in feed intake, growth rate, feed efficiency and protein efficiency ratio among the birds on the different diets. However, the dressed weight and dressing percentage and total edible meat to bone ratio showed significant (P <0.05) differences. The results indicated that replacement of GNC with RSM at levels studied, did not significantly depress the performance of broiler finishers but was quiteeneficial in terms of economics of production.