The effect of feeding varying inclusion levels of velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens) seed meal on growth performance and physicochemical attributes of broiler chicken

This study was conducted to determine the effect of feeding varying inclusion levels of velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens) seed meal (VBSM) on growth performance and physicochemical attributes of broiler chicken. Mucuna pruriens seed is an indigenous legume seed commonly found in tropical and sub-tropical areas; however, it can also be planted and cultivated. It is a viable source of dietary protein with an average concentration of 33.4%. Soybean is expensive. In addition, the South African production levels do not meet the current demand; hence the majority of soybean oilcake is imported. Recently, consumers have been conscious of the quality of chicken meat from both local and international producers. Therefore, there is a need to explore velvet bean that can grow in poorly fertilised and low rainfall areas. The study was conducted at Fort Cox Agriculture and Forestry Training Institute. One hundred and twelve (112) Cobb broilers were used, with an average weight of 45.2g. Four diets were formulated to be iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous comprising velvet beans at 0, 10, 15 and 20 % (T1, T2, T3 and T4). The broilers were reared for 42 days with 35 days on experimental diets. Feed intake, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, mortality, final body weight, carcass weight, and dressing percentage were determined. At day 42, twenty birds per treatment were randomly selected and fasted for five hours with water offered ad libitum. After slaughter the meat pH24, colour (L*, a*, b*), Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), thawing loss (TL), and cooking loss (CL) measurements were performed on 80 breast and 80 thigh muscles. The data for growth performance and physicochemical parameters was analysed using General Linear Model (GLM) procedure of SAS (SAS, 2006), mean separation was done using LSD test option of SAS. Daily feed intake, body weight gain, final weight and carcass weight of broilers from T1 were significantly higher (P 0.05). High (P 0.05) on thigh meat pH24, lightness, redness, and WBSF. Cooking loss (25.69%) was higher (P 0.05) was not influenced by diets. It can be concluded that the VBSM has an effect on feed intake, growth performance and mortality of broilers, except on FCR and dressing percentage. It was also concluded that the VBSM can be included in broiler diets up to the level of 15% without negatively affecting the quality of meat