Replacement Value of Boiled Sorrel Seed Meal for Soyabean in Broiler Diet in Semi Arid Zone of Nigeria

Abstract

The effects of replacing boiled sorrel seed meal for soyabean in broiler diet was investigated in an eight week feeding trial. Five diets were fed to 200 day-old Anak-2000 broilers chicks in groups of 40 chicks per diet with 3 replicates of 10 chicks each in a completely randomized design. The diets consisted of a control based on soyabean meal as major protein source and 4 other diets, in which sorrel seed meal was replaced at 0, 15, 30, 45 and 60% respectively. Data were collected on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass characteristics. There was no significant (p>0.05) dietary effects on final weight and daily weight gain. Feed intake was significantly (p<0.05) higher in treatments receiving sorrel seed meal except for finisher phase where the control diet tend to be higher than treatments 1 and 2. Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) was better for treatment 4 (45%) compare to other treatments on the starter diet while treatment 2 (15%) had better FCR on the finisher phase. The overall nutrient digestibility was positive except for crude fibre digestibility where treatment 3 (30%) had 45.11%. The result of the carcass characteristics shows that there were significant differences (p<0.05) for all the cut-parts observed. Treatment 5 had higher weight than the other treatment groups except for drumstick, breast muscle, feather weight, head, gizzard and spleen where treatment 4 was higher.