REPLACEMENT VALUE OF BOILED MANGO KERNEL MEAL FOR MAIZE IN BROILER FINISHER DIETS

The performance of finishing broiler chickens fed graded levels of boiled mango kernel meal as a replacement for maize was investigated in a 35-day experiment. One hundred and twenty (120) 28-day old Anak broiler chickens were individually weighed and randomly assigned to 4 groups/treatments of similar weight (589.70g ± 0.16 SE) containing 3 replicates of 10 birds each. Four diets in which boiled mango kernel meal replaced maize at 0.00, 20.00, 40.00, and 60.00% and clean drinking water were fed for the period of the experiment (35 days). Growth performance, hematological and serum biochemical indices, and carcass characteristics formed the response criteria. The results showed no significant (P>0.05) treatment differences in final body weight and daily weight gain. Daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio were significantly (P<0.05) improved on the 60 % mango kernel diet compared to the other 3 treatments. The feed cost of meat production (N/kg gain) was significantly (P<0.05) reduced on the 60%, followed by the 40 % mango kernel diets. The hematological and serum biochemical indices, and the carcass parameters showed no significant (P>0.05) treatment differences. Thus, the cost of broiler meat production can be reduced by replacing up to 60.00 % of dietary maize with boiled mango kernel meal in the finisher diet without adverse effects on growth, blood parameters and carcass measurements