Effect of graded levels of pineapple (Ananas comosus L. Meer) crush waste on the performance, carcass yield and blood parameters of broiler chicken

Abstract

A 56 - day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate pineapple crush waste (PCW) as dietary fibre source in broiler diets. Five straight diets were formulated to contain the PCWat dietary levels of 0%, 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5% and 10.0% as replacement for wheat offal. One hundred and fifty (150), day-old "Anak 2000" broiler chicks were randomly allotted to the 5 diets containing three replicates per treatment with 10 chicks per replicate in a completely randomized design (CRD). The final body weight, daily weight, daily feed intake and daily protein intake were generally higher in the birds fed diet 2 (2.5% PCW). There were significant (P<0.05) differences in daily feed intake and daily protein intake between the group on diet l and the other groups, while daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio were statistically the same (P >0.05) across the treatments. Digestible crude fibre values significantly (P < 0.05) decreased with increasing levels of PCW in the diets while the other digestibility percentages were comparable (P >0.05) in all dietary treatments. Values for the hematological parameters and blood serum chemistry did not deviate (P >0.05) statistically from established normal values for chicken. However, liver weights significantly increased (P < 0.05) across the dietary treatments while other organs observed did not differ significantly (P >0.05) in weight across the treatments. Cost per kg feed decreased as the level of PCW inclusion in the diets increased while the cost per kg weight gain showed that birds sed on diet 4 (7.5% PCW) were the most economical to produce. The results suggest that PCW could replace wheat offal in broiler diet up to 10.0% as a dietary fibre source without any deleterious effect.