Growth Performance and Carcass Quality Characteristics of Cobb 500 Broiler Chicken Fed Rations with Different Levels of Water Lily (Nymphae lotus) Seed Meal

Abstract

Effect of feeding different levels of Water lily seed meal (WLSM) on broilers performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality traits was studied for six weeks. Four levels of WLSM (T₁ = 0%; T₂ = 3%; T₃ = 6% and T₄ = 9%) were compared using 120 Cobb 500 chicks; 3 pens/treatment and 10 chicks/pens. Measured parameters were feed intake and body weights. On day 49, two broilers from each pen were slaughtered for carcass evaluation. Broilers performance in terms of daily feed intake, average daily gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated for each treatment diet. Daily feed intake of 105.9 g, 106.7 g, 107.9 g and 109.9 g were recorded for T₁, T₂, T₃ and T₄, respectively. Average daily gains (g) were 69.28 (T₁), 70.75 (T₂), 70.80 (T₃) and 71.31(T₄). The FCR rested in the range of 1.51-1.54. No difference (P>0.05) was observed in the growth performance of the birds among the inclusion spectrum used, however, the best overall performance was attained at 9% incorporation of WLSM (T₄). Moreover, the highest mean weight of edible carcass like drumstick and thigh were obtained for birds fed on diet having the highest level of WLSM (T₄). Breast from broilers fed the commercial diets containing WLSM contained less fat and more protein than the control group (P<0.05), which confirmed the highest carcass quality. Conclusively, the inclusion of different levels of WLSM in the commercial ration of Cob-500 broilers is successful without compromising their performance and the carcass parameters.