Baobab seeds as an alternative protein source in poultry feed

Abstract

Alternative cheap sources of protein in poultry diets are desired hinged on feed safety, production cost and nutritional quality. The preceding review looks at how baobab seeds have featured as an alternative protein source in poultry diets. This is on the backdrop that the cost of compound feeds continue to be on the rise due to the high expense of conventional protein sources used in manufacturing animal feed. Soya bean has been the predominantly used and  most expensive conventional protein source used in the manufacturing of compound feeds. It is suffice to suggest that there is an urgent need to accord adequate consideration to alternative cheap protein sources, and baobab seeds are one such alternatives. Previous studies have shown that baobab seeds have excellent nutritive value, despite containing inconsiderable levels of anti-nutritional factors. Baobab seeds contain some anti-nutritional factors, such as phytate (2%), oxalate (10%), tannins and saponins (3-7%) which reduces digestive efficiency and utilization of dietary nutrients in poultry. However, these anti-nutritional factor levels are generally assumed to be low enough not to cause any adverse effects in avian species. The seeds have a protein value that ranges from 20-36 % CP and an energy level of 4.19-16.75 kJ/kg, which is comparable to sunflower meal (24.4-36.7 CP and 19.1-20.2 kJ/kg) and soybean hulls (10.5-19.2 CP and 17.5-18.7 kJ/kg). It is apparent from previous studies that inclusion of baobab seeds at 5-10% level in poultry diets improves performance of broilers in terms of growth rate. Inclusion of the baobab seeds as partial replacers of soybean meal can be cost effective by inevitability reducing the escalating costs of poultry feed.