Growth performance of broilers fed graded levels of full fat palm fruit meal diets with or without enzyme

Abstract

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding graded levels of full fat palm fruit meal (FFPFM) with or without Maxigrain enzyme on the growth performance of broilers. A total of 180 day-old chicks of Hubbard F15 strain were assigned to 12 experimental diets (6 with enzymes and 6 without enzyme inclusion) in a completely randomized design. The birds were fed graded levels of 0, 10, 20, 30 40 and 50% of FFPM as partial replacement for maize. Data was recorded for feed intake (g/day), weight gain (g/day), and feed efficiency. The study lasted for 56 days. Birds fed 40% FFPFM (with and without enzymes) performed better (P<0.05) in feed intake (486.51 g/d and 434.73 g/d, respectively) when compared to others. In terms of weight gain, birds fed 40% FFPFM (with enzymes) and 50% FFPFM (without enzyme) (33.98 g/d and 34.21 g/d) performed better (P<0.05). The feed efficiency was however best at 40% FFPFM inclusion for both enzyme and without enzyme inclusion (0.07). Thus, a 50% level of FFPFM supplementation in the diets of broilers with or without enzymes fortification can be tolerated without any adverse effect on their growth performance.

Keywords: Full fat palm fruit meal, enzyme, broiler chickens, growth performance.