GROWTH RESPONSE AND NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY OF CASSAVA ROOT MEAL FORTIFIED WITH ROSELLE SEED MEAL AS A REPLACEMENT FOR MAIZE IN DIETS OF FINISHER BROILER CHICKENS

Résumé

Substantial efforts have been made in the past to replace cereals with cassava in poultry feeding but the response, in terms of productive performance of laying hens fed cassava products, has been widely variable. Thus, this study was carried out to evaluate growth response and nutrient digestibility of cassava root meal fortified with roselle seed meal as a replacement for maize in diets of finisher broiler chickens. A total of 240 one-day-old broiler chicks were used in eight weeks feeding trial toinvestigate the effect of fermented cassava root fortified with roselle seed meal as a replacement for maize on growth response and nutrient digestibility of finisher broiler chickens. Maize is the main energy source for the control diet (T1) while the other five diets (T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6 were partially replaced with varying levels of cassava root meal – roselle seed meal (CRM-RSM) mixture at 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% inclusion rates respectively. The broiler chicks were allotted to six dietary treatments of 40 birds each. The groups were replicated four times in a completely randomized design of 10 birds per replicate. Parameters measured for growth response include: final weight, total weight gain, daily weight gain, total feed intake, daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Dietary treatments revealed significant (P < 0.05) effect on final weight, total weight gain daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio. Birds fed control diet (T1) and diet containing 20% cassava- roselle meal mixture (T3) showed higher similar statistical (P < 0.05) values of 2051.00g and 2103.30g respectively. Birds fed diets containing 40% (T5) and 50% cassava- roselle meal mixture (T6) showed least values 1725.30g and 1767.00g respectively. Crude fibre and metabolisable energy digestibility were significantly (P < 0.05) affected. Birds fed diet containing 50% CRM-RSM recorded least (p<0.05) value 70.03% for
crude fibre digestibility. In conclusion, inclusion of cassava – roselle seed mixture up to 30% replacement level for maize could be fed to finisher broiler chickens for improved growth response and efficient nutrient digestibility.