PERFORMANCE AND ECONOMICS OF BROILER CHICKENS FED DIETS CONTAINING GRADED LEVELS OF PROCESSED MANGO SEED KERNEL

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of incorporating graded levels of processed mango seed kernel (MSK) into broiler diets as a partial replacement for maize performance and economics of production Processing methods such as fermentation and toasting were employed to reduce anti-nutritional factors inherent in raw MSK. Six experimental diets were formulated for both starter phase (23%CP) and finisher phases (20%CP) using two processing methods i.e. toasted mango seed kernel meal (TMSKM) and fermented mango seed kernel meal (FMSKM) at three different levels of inclusion i.e., 0%, 10% and 20% with the following diets combinations (0%, TMSKM), (10%, TMSKM), (20%, TMSKM), (0%, FMSKM), (10%, FMSKM) and (20%, FMSKM) tagged as diets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively. One hundred and eighty (180) day old broiler chicks were used for the experiment. The birds were randomly allotted to six (6) dietary groups of thirty (30) birds per treatment in a completely randomized design (CRD) and the birds were fed experimental diets and water ad libitum. Feed consumption from each treatment was measured on daily basis by subtracting left over from feed served per group. The mean daily feed intake was calculated on daily basis by dividing the amount consumed by the number of birds in the group. The body weight change of each of the treatment group was obtained by calculating the difference between the mean live weights of the current week from the mean live weight of the preceding week. Results from DFI and DWG revealed that the treatment group were similar at both starter, finisher and overall performance phase. While the FCR were significantly (p<0.05) affected.However, the inclusion of processed MSK up to 20% in broiler diets did not adversely affect feed intake, weight gain, or feed conversion ratio. Conclusively, birds fed diets with 20% fermented MSK exhibited comparable growth performance to those on conventional maize-based diets. Economically, the use of processed MSK reduced feed costs per kilogram of weight gain, indicating its potential as a cost-effective feed ingredient.