Influence of Dietary Protein Source and Utilisation of Copra Meal in Finishing Broiler Chicken

Abstract

The effect of dietary protein sources on the utilisation of copra meal was investigated in Cobb broilers. A control finisher diet based on fish meal (FM), meat and bone meal (MBM) and full-fat soybean (FFSB) and four other diets containing expeller copra meal (ECM) with combinations of these traditional protein sources (FM+ MBM, FFSB+FM, FFSB+FM+MBM and FFSB+MBM) were fed each to 4 replicates of 5 birds each in a completely randomized design. Body weight gain was highest (P<0.05) in birds fed diets containing ECM with FM+MBM. There were no significant dietary effects on feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Dressing percentage was depressed (P<0.05) in the diet based on ECM with FFSB+FM+MBM. The relative weight of breast muscle reduced (P<0.05) in group offered ECM along with FFSB+FM and FFSB+FM+MBM. Furthermore, there were no dietary effects on the weight of thighs and drumsticks. Nevertheless, birds fed ECM with FM+MBM recorded the lowest (P<0.05) weights of digesta in the crop and small intestine. There were no significant dietary effects on weight of digesta in the gizzard and caeca. The highest (P<0.05) digesta weight in the proventriculus was observed in the birds fed on FFSB+FM+MBM. Total tract apparent digestibility of DM and CP improved (P<0.05) on FM+MBM. Total tract nitrogen retention was lower (P<0.05) with FFSB+FM and FFSB+MBM as compared to control. However, fat digestibility was depressed (P<0.05) in the control diet. It could be concluded that dietary protein sources exerted significant influence on the utilisation of copra meal by broilers and the combination of ECM with animal protein sources yielded the best results in terms of performance of Cobb broilers.