Growth and nutrient utilization of broiler chickens fed steam treated cattle rumen epithelia scrapping meal in place of fish meal

Abstract

A feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the growth performance and nutrient of broiler chickens fed varied levels of steam-treated Cattle Rumen Epithelia Scrapings (CRESM) in replacement for fish meal at 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% level. Two hundred and four (240), one-day old Abor Acre strain of broiler chickens used for the study were randomly divided into 5 treatments of four (4) replicates each. There were 12 birds per replicate to a total of 48 birds per treatment in a completely randomized design. Data were collected on the feed intake, weight gain, feed to gain ratio, feed cost per kilogram weight gain at the starter and finisher phases while digestibility trial was conducted at the finisher phase. The results indicated that feed intake (44.15, 48.20, 48.87, 47.18 and 49.30g) and weight gain (20.73, 24.13, 24.63, 23.69 and 23.34g) for 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% CRESM, respectively were higher (P<0.05) and feed: gain ratio lower in birds that received diets containing CRESM at starter phase. Feed cost and feed cost per kg weight gain decreased with increased level of CRESM at this phase. At the finisher phase, feed cost per kilogram weight gain (₦260:01) of treatment five (100% inclusion of CRESM) was the lowest (p<0.05) compared with other inclusion while the control was the highest. It was concluded that 100% fishmeal could be replaced with steam-treated CRESM in broiler diets, thus ultimately reducing the production cost and increasing the profit accruable to farmers.