Determination of the apparent and true metabolisable energy value of thevetia oil

Abstract

An experiment was designed to evaluate the metabolisable energy value of solvent extracted thevetia oil for the chicken. Apart from the metabolisable energy value, the productive performance and nutrient retention was also examined. Day-old broiler chicks were fed diets with 0.0, 2.5, 5.0 or 10.0% thevetia oil over a 2-week period. There was no significant difference (P<0.05) of the treatments on feed intake weight gain, feed efficiency or mortality rate. The apparent metabolisable energy (AME) and the true metabolisable energy (TME) values of thevetia oil were determined to be 7846 and 8016 Kcal/Kg respectively.

Keywords: Thevetia oil, productive performance, metabolisable energy, broiler starter.