Growth, carcass and organ weights of finisher broilers fed differently processed Detarium microcarpum (Guill and Sperr) seed meal

C O Obun, O A Olafadehan, B A Ayanwale * and M Inuwa

Animal Production Technology Department, Federal College of Wildlife Management, P.M.B 268, New Bussa, Niger State
obunotu@yahoo.com
*Animal Production Department, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria
Ayanwale161@yahoo.com

Abstract

A 63-day study was conducted with 80 day-old Cobb broiler chicks randomly allocated to four dietary treatments of 20 birds per treatment, replicated two times to compare the effect of differently processed Detarium microcarpum seed meal (DMSM) on growth performance, feed intake, feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and carcass and organ weights. Four diets were formulated with diet 1 as control (without DMSM) while diets 2, 3 and 4 contained 10% each of  roasted, cooked and raw DMSM, respectively.

The results showed that the growth performance and FCR of birds on diet 3 (cooked DMSM) were similar to that of the control diet but superior (P < 0.05) to that of the chicks on diets 2 (roasted DMSM) and 4 (raw DMSM). Diet 4 depressed (P < 0.05) feed intake compared to other experimental diets. PER was superior in diet 3 and significantly (P < 0.05) varied in this order diet 3>diet 1>diet 2>diet 4. Daily feed intake was directly related (R² = 0.95) to the live weight gain of the experimental birds. The live weight, carcass and percentage dressed weights of the cooked DMSM diet compared favorably with the control diet but were significantly (P < 0.05) heavier than those of the roasted and raw DMSM diets. The organ weights (liver, heart, lungs, pancreas, kidney and gizzard) of the cooked, control and roasted DMSM diets were similar but significantly (P < 0.05) smaller compared to those of the raw DMSM diet.

It is concluded that inclusion of 10% cooked DMSM in practical finisher broiler ration supported a better performance than 10% roasted and raw DMSM, respectively.

Key words: Anti-nutritional factors, detoxification, performance, utilization

Introduction

Scarcity and high cost of conventional ingredients such as groundnut cake (GNC), soybeans, fishmeal and maize has led to renewed interest in the use of non conventional cheap and easily available ingredients of wild legumes in livestock feeding. Detarium microcarpum, a common ornamental plant in the savanna zone of Nigeria known as Tallow tree, presently has no human dietary or commercial demand. It is rather cut down for fuel wood and charcoal production for household use.

Some reports have indicated that Detarium microcarpum (DMS) is an acceptable ingredient in the diets of buffalo (Onweluzo et al  2003) and starter broilers (Obun 2007). Initial investigation revealed that the seed has 35.94 % crude protein (CP), 42.20 % nitrogen free extract (NFE), 11.24 % fat, and 3.42 % crude fibre (Anhwang et al 2004) while the pulp contains 4.9 % CP and 81 % NFE, which portrays it as a good protein and energy sources. Therefore, DMS may offer flexibility in feedstuff selection to feed manufacturers as it may replace both energy (maize and wheat) and protein ingredients (GNC and soybean). However, using it in a raw form in starter broiler diets resulted in poor growth with every indication of toxicity (Obun 2007).

The use of DMS has been limited in poultry rations due to anti-nutritional factors (ANFs) such as hydrogen cyanide, phytate, tannins and saponins (Anhwang et al 2004). Studies with monogastric animals fed legume seeds have shown that pre-heat treatment improved growth, feed intake and inactivated ANFS (Sotelo and Flores 1995). Precise and accurate information on the nutritive value of a novel ingredient is very important before effective inclusion in compounded diets (Adeyemi et al 2001). Proximate analysis alone does not indicate the palatability or precise nutritive value of feedstuffs but only give the quantitative estimate of the nutrients in an ingredient. Hence, the amount of feed consumed by animals is very important as it affects total nutrient intake, digestibility and therefore performance of the animal. Aletor et al (1989) showed that apart from changes in nitrogen and bio-chemical parameters, nutrition exerts several influences on the development of carcass traits, organs and certain muscles in broilers.

This study was therefore designed to assess feed intake, growth, feed efficiency and carcass and organ weights of finisher broilers fed cooked, roasted and raw DMSM.

Materials and methods 

Experimental site

The experiment was conducted in the poultry unit of Federal College of Wildlife Management, New Bussa, Niger State, Nigeria from the month of March to May 2006.

Sources and processing of seeds

Dry Detarium microcarpum (DM) fruits were collected from New Bussa, Niger State. The fruits were cracked open to collect the seeds. The seeds were cleaned of dirt and were divided into three batches. The first batch was kept raw and the second batch was roasted. The roasting was done in a sand bath at 150 - 180⁰C for 30 minutes and the roasted seeds were dehulled and air-dried at room temperature (28⁰C) for 12 hours. The third batch was cooked in open drum using fuel wood for 1 hour. Timing of cooking period started when water starter boiling at 100⁰C before lowering of the seeds. The cooked seeds were dehulled and sun-dried for 24 hours. The three batches were ground using 2mm sieve hammer mill and bagged separately.

Diets formulation and experimental design

Four dietary treatments were formulated consisting of control, roasted, cooked and raw DMS based diets represented as diets 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively (Table 1).

Eighty (80) day-old Cobb broiler chickens were randomly assigned to four treatments of 20 birds each. Each treatment had two replicates of 10 birds each in a completely randomized design.  Feed and water were offered ad-libitum during the 63 days period. Records of feed intake and weekly weight gain were kept. The feed intake and weight gain were used to calculate feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio.

Determination of carcass and organ weights

At the end of the experiment (63 days), two birds per replicate from each treatment were taken and starved overnight and then slaughtered, the carcass were dipped in warm water bath at 80⁰C for 1 minute and the birds were scalded, defeathered and eviscerated. The weight of the relative organs (liver, lungs, heart, kidney, pancreas and gizzard) were taken. Dressed weight and organ weights were calculated as percentages of live weight.

Chemical assay

The proximate composition of the ingredients and experimental diets were determined by AOAC (1990) methods. Metabolizable energy values were calculated according to Carpenter and Clegg (1956).

Statistical analysis

Data were subjected to analysis of variance as described by Steel and Torrie (1980). Treatment means were compared by Duncan’s multiple range test (Duncan 1955).  

Results and discussion 

The proximate composition of the experimental diets is presented in Table 2.

Growth performance and efficiency of conversion of feed to meat (FCR) were similar (P > 0.05) for chicks on diets 3 (cooked DMSM) and 1 (control) but were superior (P < 0.05) compared to diet 2 (roasted DMSM) which in turn was significantly (P < 0.05) better than diet 4 (Table 3). Dietary protein was better (P < 0.05) utilized for body weight gain by chicks on diet 3 compared to other diets. Similarly, PER was better (P < 0.05) in diet 1 than diet 2 which was also superior (P < 0.05) to diet 4 (raw DMSM).

The better utilization and superior performance exhibited by birds on diet 3 suggested that cooking was more effective in detoxifying the ANFs in DMS than roasting. The decreased growth rate, feed intake, FCR and PER of the birds on diet 1 (raw DMSM) may probably be attributed to the ANFs in the seeds. Anti-nutritional factors such as hydrogen cyanide, tannins, saponin, phytate and oxalate in DMSM have been reported by Anhwang et al (2004). Tannins have been reported to induce astringents taste that affect palatability, reduce feed intake and consequently body weight (Marker and Becker 1998). Studies with rat, chicks and other livestock revealed that high tannins in diet adversely affect digestibility of proteins and carbohydrate, thereby reducing growth, feeding efficiency and metabolizable energy and bio-availability of amino acids (Erdman 1979; Aletor 1993; Sotelo and Flores 1995). Reddy et al (1982) stated that phytate binds to mineral elements like Ca, Zn, Mn, Fe, and Mg by forming phytic-complexes which are indigestible substances, thereby limit absorption of minerals and thus growth rate. Besides, the relatively high CF content of the diet compared to other diets may have contributed to depression in feed and nutrient intakes and the overall performance of the birds. High dietary fibre level has been shown to depress feed and consequently nutrient intake in animals (Kass et al 1980). The dietary fibre may have exerted its depressive effect on feed intake by causing early gut-fill. According to McDonald et al (1995), fibrous feeds tend to spend a long time in the digestive tract thereby resulting in reduced feed intake. The effect of feed intake on weight gain of experimental birds was further enunciated by the positive and highly significant relationship (r = 0.97, P < 0.01) between live weight gain and feed intake as shown in Figure 1. Thus birds on diet 4 with lowest feed intake also had lowest live weight gain and vice versa.   

The live weight, carcass and the percentage dressed weight were affected by the dietary treatments (Table 4).

The lower carcass weight of broilers fed the roasted and raw DMSM diets resulted from their smaller live weight (Broadbent et al 1981; Tuleun and Igba 2007), since the surface area and the weight determine the amount of feathers and visceral organs required, respectively. This result agrees with reports of Emenalon et al (2004) that reduced carcass weight could be attributed to ANFs. The relative organs of the heart, lungs, kidney, liver, gizzard and pancreas of the cooked, control and roasted diets showed no significant differences (P > 0.05) but were significantly (P < 0.05) heavier in birds fed raw diet (Table 4). The birds on roasted diet were slightly affected probably due to some residual thermo-stable ANFs which might not have been completely detoxified. The enlargement of these organs, especially the liver and pancreas of birds on diet 4, could possibly be due to increased metabolic activities in an effort to make up for the reduced availability of protein inhibited by the ANFs through increased production of proteolytic enzymes by the pancreas (Aderemi 2003). Etuk and Udedibie (2006) reported that when ANFs are reduced through some treatments to non toxic level, the liver would not be enlarged. This confirms the results on birds fed cooked and roasted DMSM as the organs were not significantly (P > 0.05) affected when compared with the control diet. The increased gizzard weight of birds on diet 4 may reflect the extra muscular activity in breaking down the ingesta due to unprocessed raw DMSM which had higher crude fibre than the other diets. The size of gizzard is determined by the amount of work required by the muscular walls of the organs to grind feeds particles (Abdelsamic et al 1983; Johnson and McNab 1983).

Conclusions                           

• The cooked DMSM diet supported growth performance, carcass and organ weights development of finisher broilers at 10% incorporation.

  
  

• The poor performance of birds on raw DMSM suggested that there is need for detoxification or processing of DMS before its incorporation into finisher broilers ration.
   

References 

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Received 18 April 2008; Accepted 1 July 2008; Published 5 August 2008

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