The Effect of Biodegradation on Sweet Orange Peel and its Feed Value in Starter Broiler Chick's Diet

Abstract

A twenty-eight-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate maize replacement value of rumen filtrate biodegraded sweet orange peel (SOP) in the starter broiler chick’s diet. Sweet orange fruit peels were collected from retailers of peeled sweet orange fruits. Fresh rumen content was collected from a government abattoir, mixed with water at the ratio of 1 kg: 1 liter, and the mixture sieved to obtain rumen filtrate (RF). Rumen filtrate was mixed with sweet orange peels at the ratio of 1 liter: 2.5 kg, poured into polythene bags, tied at the open end, and allowed a 48-hour for biodegradation. The fermented sweet orange peels were sun-dried to about 10% moisture, milled and incorporated into each of five broiler starter diets as a replacement for maize at levels of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% to give diets T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5, respectively. Biodegraded SOP contained 8.80% crude protein, 13.25% crude fibre, 8.65% ether extract, 9.90% ash, and 59.40% NFE, and metabolizable energy of 3720.67 Kcal/kg. The experimental diets had significant effect (P0.05) among other performance indices measured across the dietary treatments. Dietary incorporation of SOP meal as a replacement for maize did not support the growth of starter broiler chicks, and further studies are necessary to investigate other processing methods that can further reduce its fibre content, to enhance its feed value as a replacement for maize in the diets of broiler chicks.