Growth and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens fed water soaked and cooked velvet bean (Mucuna utilis) meal

A 56-day feeding trial was conducted to determine the effects of dietary raw and soaked and cooked velvet beans, Mucuna utilis on the performance of broiler chickens. Two batches of raw Mucuna seedswere used. The first batch of seeds was used raw. The second batch was soaked for 24 h, subdivided into four parts and cooked for 0, 20, 40 and 60 min before sun-drying and milling. All the meals were analyzed for their proximate composition and included in the test diets at 20% dietary levels. The control diet contained no Mucuna meal. One hundred and eighty, 7 –day old Anak(R) broiler chicks were randomly assigned to six dietary treatments in a completely randomized design and replicated three times. At 20% dietary level, raw M. utilis seed meal significantly (