CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF BROILER CHICKENS FED DIETARY LEVELS OF SWEET POTATO PEEL MEAL AS REPLACEMENT FOR MAIZE

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the carcass quality and yield as well as organs characteristics of broiler chicken fed graded levels of potato peel meal (SPPM) as replacement for maize. Five diets were formulated in which SPPM replaced maize at 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% levels designated as diets 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively for both starter (23%CP) and finisher (20%CP) phases. Two hundred and twenty five one week old broiler chicks were allotted to the five diets in four replicates of fifteen chick each in a completely randomized design (CRD). Feed and water were given adlibtum for a period of six weeks. The result revealed that, all carcass parameters including live weight (0.69-1.54kg), plugged weight (0.62-1.47kg), eviscerated weight (0.45-1.19kg), carcass weight (0.37-1.08kg) and dressing percentage (54.43-69.33%) were significantly (P<0.001) affected by the dietary treatments. However, the results of internal organs characteristics expressed as percentage body weight indicated that abdominal fat (0.08-2.47%), caecum (0.91-1.81%) and small intestine (6.96-13.24%) were significantly (P<0.001) affected by the dietary treatments. Similarly, head, liver, kidney and lungs were affected significantly (P<0.01) by the dietary inclusion of SPPM with values ranging between 3.00-3.83, 2.12-2.85, 0.54-0.99 and 0.54-0.98% respectively. The result further showed that, legs (4.69-4.70%), gizzard (1.89-2.51%), spleen (0.10-0.45%) and large intestine (0.41-0.71%) were not significantly (P>0.05) affected by the dietary treatment. It was therefore concluded that sweet potato peel meal can be a good substitute for maize at 25% level in the diets of broiler chickens without affecting the carcass yield and organs characteristics and was recommended for enhance growth rate of the birds.