The potential of replacing soyabean oil cake with macadamia oil cake in broiler diets

A study was conducted to evaluate the potential of macadamia oil cake (MOC) as a replacement of soyabean oil cake (SOC) in Ross broiler diets. The 600 1-day-old male broiler chicks were randomly blocked into 30 equal-weight groups of 20 chicks. For each growth phase, basal and summit diets were blended in various proportions (100 % SOC and 0 % MOC, 75 % SOC and 25 % MOC, 50 % SOC and 50 % MOC, 25 % SOC and 75 % MOC, and 0 % SOC and 100 % MOC) to form five treatments. The diet with 100 % MOC had the least feed intake, final body weight and weight gain compared to other diets (P 0.05). It was concluded that the threshold of 25 % MOC can replace soybean oil cake meal in the diets of broiler provided that this alternative feed ingredient is readily available at an affordable cost.