Carcass characteristics of broiler finishers fed poultry offal meal as replacement for fishmeal

The study lasted for nine weeks, and investigated the effect of crayfish waste meal on the carcass characteristics of broiler finishers, as a replacement for fish meal. One hundred and fifty day-old broiler chicks were used for the study. 30 chicks were assigned to each dietary treatment, which was replicated thrice. The chicks were reared on a deep litter system with feed and water supplied ad-libitum. A batch of the crayfish wastes used for the study was drained and oven-dried at 65 0 C for 24 hours followed by plate milling. Another batch was parboiled after collection, drained and oven-dried before milling and the proximate compositions of the samples were subsequently determined. Five experimental diets were formulated with graded levels of crayfish waste meal replacing fishmeal as follows: 0%; 100 % (control), 25%; 75%, 50%; 50%, 75%; 25 % and 100%;0%. The chickens fed diet II (75%FM; 25%CWM) recorded the best eviscerated weight followed by those that were fed diet IV (25%FM; 75%CWM). The two treatments were significantly (p<0.05) different whereas other treatment means were similar (p>0.05). The drumsticks which ranged between 17.52 % (treatment II) and 16.34% (treatment V) of the eviscerated weight were also similar (p>0.05) between treatment means. The breast and back showed similarity between treatments except for chicken fed with diet III (50%; 50%CWM) which was significantly heavier than those fed diet I (control) and diet II (25%FM; 75%CWM) respectively. The organs ’ weight also fell within reported range