Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility and Haematology of Broiler Chickens Fed Varying Levels of Okara and Cassava Peel Meal

A study was conducted to investigate the response of broiler chickens to different levels of okara and cassava peel meal inclusions in the diet. A total of one hundred and eighty (180) Marshall strain broiler chicks having average initial weight of 261.32 g were randomly distributed into six treatments with three replicates each with 10 birds. The diets were formulated to be iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous. Okara and cassava peel meal at ratio 1:1 were used at the levels of 0% (control), 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% to replace maize and groundnut cake partially in the diet. The feed intake, growth performance, haematological responses and nutrient digestibility were measured. Data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis where one way analysis of variance was used and Duncan multiple range test was used to separate the means where there were statistically difference (p<0.05). The 40% inclusion level recorded the highest (p<0.05) value for the final liveweight (2055.20 g) when the overall growth performance was considered compared to 1824.60 g recorded in the 50% diet. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) ranged between 2.90 and 3.37. A higher (p<0.05) crude protein digestibility coefficients (81.36%) were recorded at the starter phase at the 40% diet compared to 78.83% in the 10% diet. The highest (p<0.05) serum creatinine concentration of 1.48 mg/dl was recorded in the 40% diet compared to 1.34 mg/dl in the control. A significantly (p<0.05) highest cost of feed/kg wt gain value of N175.11 was observed in the 50% diet compared to N130.54 and N148.14 in the 30% and 40% diet inclusion. It was concluded that that okara and cassava peel meal does not negatively affect the growth performance of broiler chickens and inclusion up to the level of 40% in broiler diets helps reduce the cost of feed and increase profit margin of the enterprise. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}