Enzyme Supplementation of Commercial Feed Diluted with Copra Meal for Growing Pullets

Abstract

T WO hundred 42 days old Shaver Star-cross pullets were subjected to five dietary treatments comprising of a commercial pullet feed alone and commercial pullet feed diluted with two levels of copra meal (CM) at two levels (200 and 300g/kg) with or without Challenzyme. Data were collected on growth performance (feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio) fora period of 84 days (42-126 days). Results showed no significant difference between supplemented and control groups in growth performance across the dietary treatments at (P > 0.05). Cost of the kg feed was linearly reduced on the dilution diets but feed cost per unit live weight gain was not different among the treatments (P > 0.05). In conclusion, diluting commercial feed with CM up to 300g/kg does not compromise pullet performance during the growing period. These findings will reduce cost of pullet rearing and add value to copra meal in coconut producing regions. There is need for more research into higher rates of dilution, composition of basal diet, enzyme source and inclusion level.

Feeding Value of Copra Meal in Corn-Animal Protein-Based Diets and Enzyme Supplementation for Egg-Type Birds: Growth Performance Egg, Production and Fatty Acid Profile

“…Copra meal (CM), a by-product of coconut oil extraction, is readily available in the region and has moderate protein content ranging from 150 to 250 g/kg (Devi and Diarra, 2017;. However, high fibre content (420-620 g/kg), mainly in the form of non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and low amino acid profile Sundu et al, 2009;Mael et al, 2019) limit utilisation of CM by poultry. Several dietary manipulations including ingredients selection (Devi and Diarra, 2017) feed processing methods (Sundu et al, 2009) amino acids and enzyme supplementation Sundu et al, 2009;Mael et al, 2019) improved the utilisation CM by poultry (Devi and Diarra, 2017) observed that broiler chickens performed better on CM fed with animal compared to plant protein sources.…”

“…However, high fibre content (420-620 g/kg), mainly in the form of non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and low amino acid profile Sundu et al, 2009;Mael et al, 2019) limit utilisation of CM by poultry. Several dietary manipulations including ingredients selection (Devi and Diarra, 2017) feed processing methods (Sundu et al, 2009) amino acids and enzyme supplementation Sundu et al, 2009;Mael et al, 2019) improved the utilisation CM by poultry (Devi and Diarra, 2017) observed that broiler chickens performed better on CM fed with animal compared to plant protein sources. The residual oil content of CM (35 to 120 g/kg) also makes it a good energy source in poultry diets (Sundu et al, 2009; but the fat is mainly saturated (Boateng et al, 2016).…”