Determination of enegry values of locally produced palm kernel and coconut meal in growing poultry chicks

Abstract

Fifty-four Warren Cockerels at four weeks of age were used for the energy evaluation of locally processed coconut meal and palm kernel meal (PKM). The birds were housed in an adapted layer cage, supplied with feed and water for a period of 21 days. The reference diet (Diet 1) contained 210.20gkg (I) crude protein. The PKM and coconut meal were used to replace 30% of the reference diet which constitute diets II and III respectively. The apparent metabolisable energy (AME) nitrogen corrected apparent metabolisable energy (AME_n), true metabolisable energy (TME) and the nitrogen corrected true metabolisable energy (TME_n) were monitored. Birds on the coconut meal diet recorded 12.55 MJKg¹ AME, 11.10 MJKG¹ AME_n, 12.50 MJKg¹ TME, 11.36 MJKg¹ TME_n which were significantly (P<0.01) higher than 12.21 MJKg-¹ AME; 9.97 MJKg-¹ AME_n 11.22 MJKg-¹ TME, and 10.01 MJKg¹ TMEn of the PKM. The obtained values of AME and TME were almost the same for the coconut meal and PKM. The AME, AME, TME and TMEn correlate positively with dietary levels of fat. The coefficient of determination R = 0.95; 0.93; 0.88; and 0.91 respectively for the listed parameters

Keywords: Coconut meal, palm kernel meal, AME, TME