Performance, Nutrients Digestibility and Cost Analysis of Broiler Chickens Fed Diet Containing Varying Inclusion Levels of Malted Senna occidentalis Seed Meal

Abstract

A total of one hundred and eighty (180) day old Amo chicks were used in a completely randomized design, to determine the performance, nutrient digestibility and cost analysis of broiler chickens fed diet containing varying inclusion levels of malted Senna occidentalismeal(MSOM).Thetreatments consistofacontrol,0%,5.5%,11.0%and16.50%inclusionlevelsofMSOM diets designated as T1,T2, T3 and T4 respectively, and replicated thrice (3) with fifteen birds per replicate. The parameters evaluated included feed intake, body weight, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, protein efficiency, energy efficiency, cost analysis and nutrients digestibility. At the end of the experiment, 6 birds were randomly selected from each treatment and housed in a metabolic cage for digestibility trial. Significant differences (p>0.05) where observed in all parameters measured. However dietary treatments significantly influence the nutrients digestibility, except the dry matter. There were significant differences (p>0.05) in the results of growth performance with the control diets having higher values in terms final weight when compared with other treatments, however broiler chickens fed up to 5.5% MSOSM compared favourably with the control diets in most of the parameters. The feed cost analysis feed cost per kg weight gain tends to decrease as the levels of malted Senna occidentalis in the diet of broiler chickens increased. It was therefore concluded that malted Senna occidentalis seed meal can be incorporated in the diet of broiler chicken up to 5.5 % without any deleterious effects.