Acacia saligna seed meal as alternative feed ingredient in broiler ration: Effect on productive performance and carcass characteristics

The experiment was conducted to determine the productive performances and carcass characteristics of broilers fed graded raw Acacia saligna seed meal. A total of 132 Cobb500 unsexed day-old broiler chicken were used for the experiment. The chicks were randomly allocated to four dietary treatments containing 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% A. saligna seed meal. A completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications was used and 33 chicks were allocated for each treatment. The daily dry matter intake showed significant difference (P<0.05) among treatments in the starter, finisher and entire period which was higher in chicks fed T2 (66.03 g/chick) and T1 (65.02 g/chick) but lowest for T3 (40.73 g/chick) and T4 (45.54 g/chick) in the entire period. Similarly, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) in the starter, finisher and overall experimental period; final body weight, body weight change and daily weight gain in the starter phase showed significant (P<0.05) difference among treatments. The highest FCR was recorded for T3 (0.35) while the lowest was for T2 (0.25). However, there was no significant difference (P> 0.05) among treatments in the daily weight gain, final body weight, body weight change and carcass parameters in finisher and entire period. Therefore, it can be concluded that raw A. saligna seed meal can be incorporated up to 5% level in the diet of broilers for better growth performance and carcass characteristics.