Feeding value of raw and boiled pigeon pea seed meal on the growth performance of local pullet chicks

A total of 324 local pullet chicks (1- 8 weeks) were used for the research project to evaluate the feeding value of raw and boiled pigeon pea seed  meal (PSM) on their growth performance. Nine iso-caloric and isonitrogenous diets were formulated, with raw and boiled pigeon pea seed meal at inclusion levels of 0%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30%, respectively. There were 36 chicks per treatment replicated into 3 at 12 chicks per replicate. There were significant interactions between form and PSM levels on the final live weight, daily feed intake and daily protein intake. Final live weight of  pullets fed both raw and boiled PSM followed the same trend, pullets fed control (0%) and 15% raw PSM 128.10 and 132.33g respectively performed better than the rest of the treatment levels but statistically similar at all levels. Daily feed intake and daily protein intake showed significant  interaction among the treatments. Pullets fed control (8.95g) and raw diets (8.79g) consumed more feed than pullets fed boiled PSM II (105.05g), III (117.77g) IV (91.27g) and V (112.80g) diets. Daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio had no significant (P>0.05) interaction between form and treatment groups for the pullets. 30% PSM raw or boiled can be fed to local pullet chicks without any deleterious  effect on the growth performance. Keywords: Raw PSM, Boiled PSM, Feeding value, Growing local pullet