Nutritional evaluation of almond cashew nut by-products in diets for slow-growing broiler chickens

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the apparent digestibility and energy value of almond cashew nut by-products for slow-growing broiler chickens. Seventy-six chickens (males and females) were allocated in a completely randomized design to four treatments: a control diet and the same diet in which the conventional ingredients were replaced with 30% (kg/kg) almond cashew nut film, almond cashew nut meal or almond cashew nut mass. The animals were housed in individual cages adapted for excreta collection. The apparent digestibility coefficients of film, full meal and almond mass were, respectively, 81.3, 87.3 and 86.2% for dry matter; 32.1, 71.2 and 56.7% for crude protein (CP); 82.7, 92.6 and 92.8% for ether extract; 10.9, 29.9 and 34.7% for neutral detergent fiber; 7.7, 17.9 and 19.6% for acid detergent fiber; 41.9, 57.2 and 66.7% for coefficient of gross energy metabolism (CGEM); 1,189, 2,648 and 3,719 kcal/kg for apparent metabolizable energy (AME); 8.1, 19.9 and 12.9% for digestible protein, and 3.9, 15.2 and 6.3% for mineral matter (MM). The CP and MM apparent digestibility coefficients of full meal were higher than those of film and almond cashew nut mass, while the latter exhibited higher apparent digestibility of fiber, CGEM and AME compared to the other by-products. The inclusion of almond cashew nut by-products in diets for slow-growing broiler chickens results in lower nutrient digestibility, except for ether extract, neutral detergent fiber and AME, in diets containing 30% almond cashew nut mass.