Outcome of Different Levels of Toasted Baobab Seed Meal on Growth Performance of Broilers Chickens

Abstract

The present study was carried out with one hundred and eighty day (180) old broiler chicks to examine the outcome of using different levels of toasted baobab seed meal (TBSM) in the diet of broilers on their growth performance. The study had six dietary treatments as: Treatment 1 (T₁) had no baobab seed meal, Treatment 2 (T₂) contained 2.5% toasted baobab seed meal, Treatment 3 (T₃) contained 2.5% raw baobab seed meal, Treatment 4 (T₄) contained 5.0% toasted baobab seed meal, Treatment 5 (T₅) contained 7.5% toasted baobab seed meal and Treatment 6 (T₆) contained 10.0% toasted baobab seed meal. Each treatment had thirty (30) broiler chicks divided into three equal replicates in a completely randomized design. The study lasted for forty- nine days in a deep litter system and growth performance data were analyzed for both phases of production using SPSS version 19 of 2010. Dietary treatments produced significant (p<0.05) effect on all the parameters evaluated except protein intake and mortality percentage at starter phase and significant differences only existed for daily feed intake, final live weight and protein intake at the finisher phase of production. Diets containing TBSM up to 10% levels of inclusion brought efficient growth performance in broiler chickens with an average weight range of 2933.33-3146.67g/bird. The inclusion levels of toasted baobab seed meal up to 10% caused improvement in the body weight of broiler chickens.