Performance, haematology and serum biochemistry of broiler chickens fed differently processed shea butter cake meal

Abstract

A 42-day study was conducted to determine the effect of feeding differently processed shea butter cake meal (SBCM) on performance and blood indices of broiler chickens. A total of 250 Arbor acre day old chicks were randomly allocated to five dietary treatments with five replicates of 10 birds each in a completely randomized design under deep litter system. The five diets were formulated such that T₁ is the control containing 0% SBCM while T₂, T₃, T₄ and T₅ contained 20% of raw, boiled, sodium hydroxide (NaOH)-treated and fermented SBCM respectively. Data obtained on performance, haematology and serum indices were subjected to one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results showed that all performance parameters were significantly (p<0.05) affected by the treatments and birds fed processed SBCM diets compared favorably with the control group especially fermented SBCM than those fed raw SBCM diet. WBC, RBC, serum protein, glucose and creatinine were comparable among birds fed control and processed SBCM diets while lower (P<0.05) values were recorded in those on raw-SBCM. In conclusion, birds fed fermented-SBCM diets showed improved performance at lower fed and up to 20% inclusion can be tolerated without any deleterious health consequences.

Keywords: Shea butter cake, processing, performance, blood, broilers