Replacement Value of Maize with African Locust Beans (Parkia biglobosa) Pulp Meal on Performance, Haematological and Carcass Characteristics of Broiler Chickens

Abstract

Two hundred and twenty five Marshal broiler chicks were used to investigate the effect of replacing maize with Parkia biglobosa pulp on performance, haematological and carcass characterics of broiler chicken. Five diets were formulated. Diet 1 which served as the control was a normal broiler starter and finisher diet, respectively. Diets 2-5 had maize replaced at 25, 50, 75 and 100 percent, respectively. The birds were housed under the deep litter system. Feed and water were given ad libitum throughout the duration of the experiment. Each of the diet represented a treatment and each treatment was replicated three times with 15 birds per replicate in a completely randomized design experiment. The study lasted for 8 weeks. Results obtained indicated that broilers can tolerate up to 25% replacement of maize with Parkia pulp without adverse effect on the performance, haematological and carcass characteristics of the birds.

Key words: Parkia pulp, broiler chickens, carcass, haematological parameters, performance.